UNIV.  OP  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELED 


A  MAGNIFICENT 

YOUNG  MAN 


BY 

'John  Strange  Winter} 

AUTHOR  OF  "  BOOTLES'  BABY,"  "AUNT  JOHNNIE, 

"EVERY    INCH    A    SOLDIER,"    "ONLY    HUMAN, 

"THE     OTHER     MAN*S     WIFE,"    ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA 

B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 
1903. 


CO?YRIGHT, 
BY 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY. 


PW»TEA  BY  «i.  B.   LlWMNCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA.  U-3.M 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.— BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK 5 

II.— TOLD  BY  THE  GIPSY 15 

III.— MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS 24 

IV. — HEYDAY 36 

V. — YOUNG  FOLKS'  WAYS 44 

VI. — GODFREY  THE  MAGNIFICENT 51 

VII.— MARGOT'S  DUENNA 63 

VIII.— A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING 72 

IX. — AN  UNFORTUNATE  ACCIDENT •   •  84 

X. — A  DREADFUL  SCRAPE 95 

XI. — A  SUDDEN  RESOLUTION  .   .          103 

XII. — HUSBAND  AND  WIFE 112 

XIII.— A  Two  DAYS'  HONEYMOON 123 

XIV.— A  MYSTERY 133 

XV.— ABSENT  WITHOUT  LEAVE 144 

XVI.— AT  A  DEAD  END 154 

XVII.— A  QUESTION 165 

XVIII. — THE  SORROW  OF  OTHERS 174 

XIX.— THE  QUIET  END 184 

XX.— MRS.  BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A  PLAIN  QUESTION  192 

XXI. — GOING  HOMB 204 

XXII.— COMING  AND  GOING 214 

XXIII. — A  PRECIOUS  MISSIVE 224 

XXIV.— RALPH 235 

XXV.— AN  UNLOCKED  FOR  VISITOR 245 

XXVI.— ASTOUNDING  NEWS ' 256 

XXVII.— WIDE  OF  THE  MARK 266 

XXVTJr. — COMMON  SENSE ,   .  273 

XXIX. — :'-To  WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON"    .  »   .   .  285 

XXX.— A  TERRIBLE  SHOCK 295 

XXXI.— CAUGHT  RED-HANDED 306 

XXXII. — MY   SON   HAS   MORE  THAN   SATISFIED    ME!  .     .  316 

3 


2133937 


A   MAGNIFICENT 

YOUNG   MAN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK. 

MRS.  BLADENSBROOK  was  queen  regent  of  the 
estate  which  bore  the  same  name  as  she  did. 
Whether  the  original  possessor  of  Bladensbrook 
had  taken  his  name  from  the  soil,  or  whether  the 
soil  had  taken  its  name  from  the  original  possessor, 
history  does  not  record,  but  the  Bladensbrooks  of 
Bladensbrook  had  been  powers  in  Blankshire  for 
some  hundreds  of  years,  and  when  young  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook,  the  last  representative  of  the  old 
family,  was  three  years  old  his  father  was  killed 
by  a  kick  from  one  of  his  horses,  and  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook became  for  the  time  queen  regent. 

Godfrey  the  elder,  the  one  who  died  from  a  kick 
of  a  horse,  was  a  typical  Bladensbrook,  of  immense 
size  and  great  personal  beauty,  and  with  an  upper 
storey  less  well  furnished  than  any  other  part  of 
him.  The  most  astute  thing  that  he  had  ever 
done  in  the  whole  of  his  thirty-six  years  of  life 
was  his  marriage.  He  had  not  married  for  money, 
i*  5 


6  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

nor  had  he  gone  where  money  was,  but  he  had 
chosen  a  woman  of  undeniable  position.  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  was  styled  Honourable,  the  keen- 
brained  daughter  of  an  exceptionally  keen-brained 
father,  a  peer  who  in  his  time  had  filled  the  highest 
offices  in  the  land  open  to  a  subject,  a  woman  of 
extraordinary  acumen,  who  understood  thoroughly 
— to  use  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's  own  words — how 
many  beans  made  five.  Being  herself  irreproach- 
able as  to  family,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  at  once  flung 
herself  heart  and  soul  into  the  traditions  of  the 
family  into  which  she  had  married.  She  always 
spoke  of  the  Bladensbrooks  as  if  they  were  a  race 
entirely  and  distinctly  apart  from  the  majority  of 
people.  In  her  estimation  the  upper  classes  in 
this  country  were  divided  into  three — the  Peerage, 
the  Bladensbrooks,  and  the  county  families.  "  You 
must  never  forget,"  she  would  say  to  her  son,  "  that 
you  were  born  a  Bladensbrook"  By  reason  of 
this  wholesale  adoption  of  her  husband's  family, 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  obtained  and  kept  during  the 
five  years  of  her  married  life  an  absolute  power 
over  her  husband.  He  worshipped  her  from  first 
to  last ;  he  adored  her.  If  they  were  parted  for  a 
few  hours  he  was  as  a  lost  soul,  as  a  needle  with- 
out its  pole ;  a  boat  without  a  rudder  was  truly  an 
apt  illustration  of  what  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  was 
like  when  he  was  separated  for  ever  so  short  a 
time  from  his  wife.  His  opinion  of  her  far-sighted 
shrewdness  was  immense,  his  belief  that  she  would 
understand  the  most  difficult  accounts,  advise  him 
rightly  in  the  most  awkward  situation,  might  be  as 


BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK.          / 

a  tower  of  strength  in  the  most  trying  circum- 
stances, was  as  unshakable  as  it  was  genuine. 

So  after  the  fatal  day  when  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook  was  found  done  to  death  by  the  hoofs  of 
his  own  favourite  hack,  no  one  was  surprised  that 
he  was  found  to  have  left  a  will  naming  his  widow 
as  his  sole  executor  and  the  sole  guardian  of  his 
only  child,  leaving  her,  in  fact,  queen  regent  over 
the  Bladensbrook  property,  and  over  the  last  of 
the  name.  He  had  made  no  provision  against  his 
wife's  marrying  again,  and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's 
father  was  quick  to  notice  it  and  to  comment  upon 
it.  "  I  shall  never  marry  again,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook quietly;  "  all  my  interest  in  life  will  be 
to  bring  up  my  son  to  be  as  worthy  of  his  name 
as  his  father  was  before  him."  "  Quite  right,  my 
dear,"  said  Lord  Pollington  approvingly ;  "  I  am 
very  glad  that  you  accept  your  responsibilities  so 
thoroughly.  They  are  responsibilities,  and  very 
grave  ones,  but  you  will  be  more  than  equal  to 
them."  In  truth,  Lord  Pollington  had  always 
regarded  the  dead  and  gone  Godfrey  as  a  thor- 
oughly good  fellow  who  was  as  near  an  idiot  as 
it  was  possible  for  an  English  gentleman  to  be; 
but  of  course  there  was  no  occasion  to  express 
that  opinion  in  plain  words  to  his  widow. 

For  a  little  time  people  round  about  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Bladensbrook  discussed  the  new  state 
of  affairs,  and  even  ventured  on  more  or  less  lugu- 
brious predictions  concerning  the  future  of  the 
child  and  the  care  which  would  be  taken  of  the 
property,  but  as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  no  one  to 


8  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

consider  but  herself,  she  did  not  trouble  about 
what  rumour  might  be  saying,  even  if  she  ever 
knew  it ;  still  less  did  she  trouble  as  to  the  opinion 
of  others  in  the  upbringing  of  her  only  child. 
From  the  very  first  she  treated  him  as  if  he  were 
a  young  king.  She  impressed  a  due  sense  of  his 
responsibilities  upon  him,  made  him  fully  aware 
of  the  importance  of  his  place  in  this  world,  and 
always  treated  him — even  when  correcting  him — 
with  a  certain  deference  which  she  held  due  to  the 
head  of  her  family ;  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  young  Godfrey  was  only  three  years  old 
when  his  father  died.  From  the  day  following 
that  of  Godfrey  the  elder's  funeral,  the  young 
squire  sat  in  his  place,  and  was  invariably  spoken 
of  and  to  as  Mr.  Bladensbrook.  It  was  charac- 
teristic of  this  woman  that  she  never  called  him 
Godfrey  when  speaking  of  him  to  anyone  else, 
not  even  to  people  who  were  more  than  her  social 
equals ;  she  invariably  said  "  My  son."  Some- 
times, if  she  chanced  to  be  speaking  to  a  very 
great  lady,  she  would  soften  it  to  "  My  little  son," 
but  to  all  people  inferior  to  herself,  she  made  a 
rule  of  calling  him  Mr.  Bladensbrook. 

She  never  did  marry  again.  She  held  the  reins 
of  government  with  a  firm  yet  easy  hand.  She 
neither  rushed  into  undue  extravagance  nor  cur- 
tailed expenses.  In  fact,  she  lived  in  precisely  the 
same  manner  as  she  had  lived  during  the  five  years 
of  her  husband's  lifetime.  During  the  first  twelve 
months  she  did  not  entertain.  She  wore  the  deep- 
est of  widow's  weeds,  and  accepted  no  invitations 


BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK.    9 

whatever,  but  she  always  had  three  men  servants  to 
wait  at  dinner,  and  the  dignified  butler  always  stood 
behind  "  Mr.  Bladensbrook's"  chair  at  luncheon. 
At  the  end  of  the  twelve  months  she  relaxed  her 
mourning  and  her  seclusion,  breaking  the  ice  by 
going  to  a  few  small  entertainments,  and  by  giving 
several  small  dinner  parties.  At  the  end  of  two 
years  she  had  laid  aside  her  mourning,  and  enter- 
tained on  precisely  the  same  scale  as  she  and  her 
husband  had  been  wont  to  do,  with  this  exception 
— that  she  never  gave  hunt  breakfasts  as  he  had 
done. 

So  the  years  passed  over,  and  young  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook  grew  up.  In  some  senses  he  had 
been  very  wisely  governed.  He  had  been  fear- 
lessly given  over  to  the  instructions  of  the  coach- 
man, the  head  groom,  and  the  head  gamekeeper. 
He  had  had  the  manliest  tutor  whom  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook could  hear  of,  and  the  result  was  that 
when  he  was  old  enough  to  go  to  Eton  he  knew 
most  things  that  a  boy  should  know  of  country 
life,  and  rode,  drove,  shot,  and  fished  with  any 
other  boy  of  his  age,  was  big  and  strong  for  his 
years,  and  quite  as  handsome  as  his  father  had 
been  before  him,  was  exceedingly  sweet-tempered, 
and  without  being  brilliant  in  the  way  of  intellect, 
had  certainly  inherited  a  fair  share  of  his  mother's 
astuteness  of  character ;  and  yet,  he  had  been  so 
hedged  about,  so  guarded,  so  watched,  so  con- 
sidered in  every  way,  that  in  some  respects  he  had 
grown  up  to  be  what  other  boys  of  his  age  called 
a  "  bit  of  an  ass  !"  There  were  joys  in  the  lives 


10  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

of  other  lads  which  had  never  entered  into  his. 
His  mother  had  never  debarred  him  from  seeing 
as  much  as  was  possible  of  the  boys  of  his  own 
class  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  they  were  not 
many,  and  when  he  was  with  them  he  could 
scarcely  understand  their  likings  and  dislikings 
any  more  than  a  grown-up  man  or  woman  might 
be  able  to  do.  He  could  not  for  the  life  of  him 
see  anything  to  go  into  ecstasies  over  in  a  filthy, 
evil-smelling  ferret,  guinea-pigs  bored  him  to  death 
and  always  had  done,  rabbits  he  would  have  none 
of,  and  white  rats  and  mice  were  an  abomination 
to  him.  "  They  stink  so !"  was  his  comment  when 
the  two  lads  .at  the  Rectory  took  him  to  their  own 
quarters  adjoining  the  stables  and  proudly  dis- 
played to  him  all  their  live  stock.  "  I  can  under- 
stand you  thinking  a  lot  about  that  fellow,"  pointing 
to  a  very  well-bred  bull-terrier  who  was  standing 
by  quivering  with  excitement  on  the  chance  of 
there  being  a  rat-hunt  on  foot,  "  but  these  horrid, 
sinuous,  ill-smelling  ferrets  I  cannot  see  anything 
to  like  in !" 

The  two  young  Dangerfields,  not  knowing  what 
sinuous  meant,  did  not  pursue  the  subject  further, 
but  led  their  guest  on  to  the  pen  where  the  rabbits 
were.  It  was  no  use.  Rabbits,  white  rats,  white 
mice,  guinea-pigs,  all  met  with  the  same  quiet 
disgust  as  the  ferrets  had  done,  and  so  the  two 
lads  looked  at  one  another  with  a  look  which 
conveyed,  "  What  an  ass  this  chap  is !"  and  sug- 
gested that  perhaps  he  would  like  to  go  and  see 
the  pigs.  The  Dangerfield  lads  loved  the  pigs 


BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK.        1 1 

themselves,  and  were  on  the  most  friendly  rela- 
tions with  all  of  them.  There  was  Mrs.  Isaacs,  a 
large  black  lady  who  spent  the  greater  part  of  her 
days  in  hanging  over  the  edge  of  her  sty  watching 
for  the  pail-full  of  steaming  wash  which  filled  her 
trough  at  certain  hours.  If  Mrs.  Isaacs  was  not 
standing  on  her  hind  legs  watching  for  the  pail, 
she  was  sure  to  be  lying  flat  on  her  side  basking 
in  the  hottest  rays  of  the  sun,  or  to  be  within  the 
sty  half  buried  in  a  heap  of  clean  straw.  These 
two  lads  loved  Mrs.  Isaacs.  They  simply  could 
not  understand  the  mind  which  could  regard  Mrs. 
Isaacs  as  an  ordinary  pig,  and  take  no  more  interest 
in  her  than  if  she  were  one  of  the  white  sows  down 
the  village.  On  the  other  side  of  the  yard  was 
Mrs.  Isaacs's  last  family, — nine  small  black  persons, 
who  also  waited  with  great  eagerness  for  the  arrival 
of  the  wash-pail,  but  who  had  not  yet  attained  to 
the  height  which  permitted  their  mother  to  hang 
over  the  edge  of  her  sty  and  look  for  it.  Then 
a  little  further  down  was  Mrs.  Grundy.  Mrs. 
Grundy  was  a  younger  lady  than  Mrs.  Isaacs,  and 
scarcely  so  advanced  in  worldly  knowledge,  but 
she  was  very  dear  to  the  two  boys,  and  they  spent 
many  a  ten  minutes  scratching  away  at  the  back 
of  one  or  the  other  of  them  with  an  old  stable 
broom.  In  an  adjoining  shed  was  a  nine  weeks' 
old  calf,  a  wee,  bonny  thing  that  mistook  every- 
body's fingers  for  feeding-bottles.  Young  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook  did  not  conceal  the  fact  that  he 
strongly  objected  to  fostering  such  an  illusion. 
"  They  are  so  slobbery !"  he  said,  as  he  watched 


12  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Jack  Dangerfield  standing  patiently  while  the 
pretty  brown  animal  sucked  away  at  his  two  first 
fingers,  "  You  will  have  to  go  and  wash  your 
hands  now." 

As  a  truthful  chronicler  I  must  confess  that  Jack 
Dangerfield  laughed  outright,  and  the  next  mo- 
ment he  wiped  his  fingers  on  the  side  of  his  trousers, 
first  the  inside,  then  the  outside — "  Oh,  they  are 
all  right,"  he  said ;  "  it's  clean  enough,  poor  little 
thing." 

Two  stalls  away  was  the  mother  of  the  calf,  a 
patient  Alderney  cow,  who  apparently  found  life 
no  small  trial. 

"  What's  she  kicking  up  that  row  for  ?"  asked 
young  Godfrey.  You  see,  he  never  went  into  his 
own  farmyard;  indeed,  it  was  three  miles  away 
from  the  house,  so  perhaps  he  had  not  the  same 
temptation  to  do  so  as  the  young  Dangerfields. 

"  Oh,  she's  worrying  after  her  calf.  He  has  only 
been  taken  from  her  since  yesterday  or  the  day 
before,  or  some  time  or  other.  Poor  Daisy,"  patting 
the  bereaved  mother  upon  the  neck.  "  It  is  very 
hard  on  you  to  have  your  children  taken  away, 
isn't  it  ?  And  the  little  chap's  going  to  the  butcher 
next  week !" 

Young  Godfrey  turned  round  and  walked  straight 
out  of  the  shed.  It  was  his  first  intimate  introduc- 
tion to  the  maternal  joys  "and  sorrows  of  the  stock- 
yard. He  felt  as  if  he  could  never  touch  veal  again 
as  long  as  he  lived. 

'  "  You  must  come  and  see  the  donkey,"  said  Jim 
Dangerfield,  catching  him  by  the  arm. 


BLADENSBROOK  OF  BLADENSBROOK.   13 

"  Oh,  yes,  where  is  the  donkey  ?"  He  felt  that 
a  donkey  would  be  comparatively  harmless. 

This  donkey  was,  however,  not  quite  harmless. 
He  was  a  pet  and  went  in  a  small  governess  cart, 
being  most  often  driven  by  the  Rector's  little 
daughter  Margot ;  but  something  happened  to  be 
wrong  with  Joko  that  day,  and  he  made  himself 
so  intensely  unpleasant  that  Jack  and  Jim  escorted 
their  young  guest  back  to  the  front  of  the  house 
in  a  state  of  mind  akin  to  despair. 

"  Oh,  here's  Margot,"  said  Jim,  as  they  turned 
the  corner  by  the  drawing-room  windows. 

It  was  a  glorious  July  day,  and  Margot,  who 
was  ten  years  old,  was  just  coming  out  of  the 
house  by  way  of  the  conservatory.  "  Have  you 
been  round  the  yard  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Jack. 

"  I  do  think  it's  mean  of  you  to  go  round  the 
yard  without  me.  You  know  I  love  going  round. 
I  call  it  horrid  of  you  both." 

"  It  was  rather  horrid,"  admitted  Jim,  "  but  you 
see  we  didn't  know  what  to  do  with  Godfrey  here." 

"  You  might  have  come  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs 
and  shouted,"  said  Margot,  indignantly. 

Now,  one  of  the  articles  of  faith  in  which  God- 
frey Bladensbrook  had  been  brought  up  was  ex- 
cessive courtesy  and  attention  towards  womenkind. 
Although  they  had  been  intimately  known  to  each 
other  for  years  and  years,  ever  since  they  had  been 
little  toddling  children,  so  that  the  Dangerfields 
and  young  Bladensbrook  were  more  like  brothers 
and  sister  than  neighbours,  he  took  off  his  hat  to 

2 


14  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Margot  as  he  would  have  taken  it  off  to  Her 
Majesty.  Margot  was  very  much  flattered,  and 
instantly  attached  Godfrey  to  herself,  leaving  her 
two  older  brothers  to  follow  behind  them. 

"  Have  you  seen  everything  ?"  she  asked. 

"  I  believe  I  have,"  said  Godfrey,  very  politely, 
and  scarcely  able  to  repress  a  shudder  of  disgust. 

"  Did  you  see  the  ferrets  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  guinea-pigs  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  rats  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  mice  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  rabbits  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  And  the  calf?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  cow  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  And  the  donkey  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  You  never  went  and  showed  my  donkey  ?" 

"  I  am  afraid  we  did,  Margot,"  said  Jack,  apolo- 
getically. 

"  You  are  afraid  you  did  ?  Then  I  suppose  you 
went  and  showed  my  kittens  ?" 

"  No,  we  forgot  the  kittens !"  cried  Jim  and  Jack 
in  the  same  breath. 

"  Well,  then,  I  will  take  you  to  see  my  kittens," 
said  Margot,  turning  to  Godfrey  triumphantly. 


TOLD  BY  THE   GIPSY.  15 

CHAPTER   II. 

TOLD   BY  THE   GIPSY. 

IT  was  brilliant  summer  weather  once  more. 
Nearly  a  year  had  gone  by  since  the  day  on  which 
the  young  Dangerfields  had  introduced  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook  to  Mrs.  Isaacs  and  the  donkey,  and 
since  that  time  they  had  not  met.  All  three  boys 
had  been  at  their  respective  schools,  Godfrey  at 
Eton,  and  Jim  and  Jack  Dangerfield  at  Charter- 
house. Godfrey  had  not  come  home  to  Bladens- 
brook for  Christmas,  his  mother  having  spent  the 
entire  winter  in  the  south  of  France,  where  he  had 
joined  her  on  his  holidays  beginning.  The  Easter 
vacation  he  had  of  course  spent  with  her  in  London, 
and  so  it  was  with  a  sense  of  everything  being  to 
a  certain  extent  strange  that  he  found  himself  once 
more  in  his  own  kingdom. 

He  had  reached  home  but  barely  in  time  to  dress 
for  dinner,  and  naturally  he  and  his  mother  had 
much  to  say  to  each  other  during  the  first  evening. 
The  following  day,  too,  he  had  more  than  enough 
to  occupy  him,  improvements  to  see,  different  ser- 
vants and  workmen  to  speak  to,  to  go  through  the 
stables  and  glass  houses,  and  to  hear  a  good  deal 
of  what  his  mother  had  been  doing  during  his 
absence ;  and  immediately  after  lunch  the  two  lads 
from  the  Rectory  arrived  to  bid  him  welcome  home 
and  to  beg  that  he  would  come  down  and  spend 


1 6  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

the  afternoon  with  them.  On  the  whole,  young 
Godfrey  would  rather  have  done  nothing  of  the 
kind.  He  had  had  a  good  deal  of  boys'  society 
at  Eton,  and  would  have  preferred  to  drive  with 
his  mother  and  discuss  several  questions  which 
were  far  more  interesting  to  him  than  the  Rectory 
ferrets ;  but  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  who  never  lost  a 
chance  of  any  course  which  she  believed  would 
give  her  boy's  mind  a  right  turn,  took  it  for 
granted  that  he  would  prefer  to  spend  the  rest 
of  the  day  with  those  of  his  own  level  rather 
than  with  her. 

"  Oh,  Godfrey  will  be  very  pleased,  won't  you, 
Godfrey  ?"  she  said,  as  Jim  preferred  his  request. 

Whereupon  Godfrey  had  practically  no  choice 
but  to  acquiesce  in  his  mother's  decision. 

"  I  am  going  to  make  a  call  some  miles  away," 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on,  in  her  great  lady 
fashion,  "  and  shall  not  be  back  till  nearly  dinner- 
time, so  you  will  not  trouble  about  me,  Godfrey." 

"  Not  at  all,  Mother,"  said  he.  In  truth,  he  never 
did  trouble  about  his  mother.  He  would  have  con- 
sidered it  rather  an  impertinence  than  otherwise  to 
trouble  about  a  lady  who  was  so  terribly  well  able 
to  take  care  of  herself  as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  If  you  would  like  Jim  and  Jack  to  come  back 
to  dinner  with  you,  pray  bring  them,"  the  lady 
went  on  ;  "  Godfrey  spend  the  afternoon  with  you, 
and  you  come  up  and  dine  with  Godfrey." 

"Oh,  thank  you  awfully,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook," 
said  Jack,  who  was  more  impulsive  than  Jim  and 
sometimes  spoke  first. 


TOLD   BY   THE    GIPSY.  \"J 

"  And  be  sure  that  you  are  here  at  a  quarter  to 
eight,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  continued. 

"  A  quarter  to  eight  ?  Yes,  we  will  be  here. 
And  Margot,  are  we  to  bring  Margot  ?"  Jack 
asked. 

"  Oh,  well,  do  you  think  that  your  mother  will 
allow  Margot  to  come  ?" 

"Oh,  I  think  Mother  will  allow  it.  You  see, 
Margot  is  so  dreadfully  put  out  if  she  is  left  out 
of  it  in  any  way.  I  think  if  you  don't  mind  our 
bringing  Margot " 

"  Very  well,  if  your  mother  will  allow  Margot 
to  come  I  shall  be  very  pleased,  and  you  can  say 
that  I  will  send  you  home  in  the  carriage  at  ten 
o'clock." 

"  Very  well,  thank  you  awfully.  Then  we  will 
be  going  along  now,  if  you  don't  mind,  Godfrey." 

So  the  two  carried  Godfrey  off  in  triumph  be- 
tween them.  He  was  rather  bored  at  the  prospect 
of  the  ferrets,  Mrs.  Isaacs  and  the  other  pigs,  to 
say  nothing  of  any  calves  and  other  domestic 
animals  that  might  be  hanging  about,  but  he  was 
very  fond  of  Margot,  and  the  certainty  that  she 
would  be  there  somewhat  mitigated  his  feeling  of 
unwillingness  to  have  his  original  plans  altered. 

They  found  Margot  under  the  great  weeping 
elm,  which  shaded  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  Rec- 
tory, swinging  herself  to  and  fro  in  a  hammock  in 
company  with  Dido,  the  pug,  and  two  small  pug 
puppies.  As  she  caught  sight  of  Godfrey  she 
jumped  up,  upsetting  herself,  Dido,  and  the  pup- 
pies on  to  the  ground.  "Oh,  Godfrey,  I  didn't 


1 8  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

really  believe  that  you  were  coming  back  !"  she 
exclaimed,  holding  out  both  her  hands.  "  Why,  it 
isyears  since  you  were  here  last !" 

"  Only  one  year,"  interrupted  Godfrey. 

"  Only  one  year  ?  ten — ten  !  I  thought  you 
were  never  coming  back  again.  How  horrid  of 
you  to  go  to  France  for  your  Christmas  holidays. 
We  were  dreadfully  dull  without  you.  See,  this 
is  my  pug,  Dido,  isn't  she  a  beauty  ?  And  these 
are  her  pups.  Father  said  I  was  absolutely  in- 
sane to  want  to  keep  them  both ;  he  would  have 
drowned  them,  but  it  would  have  been  wicked  to 
drown  them,  wouldn't  it?  They  are  such  beau- 
ties." 

"  They  are  beauties,"  said  Godfrey,  who  knew 
the  points  of  a  dog  as  well  as  most  boys  of  his 
age. 

"  We  have  got  all  sorts  of  young  things  in  the 
yard,"  Margot  went  on,  looking  at  him  out  of  a 
pair  of  brilliant  hazel  eyes,  and  having  evidently 
no  idea  that  his  soul  loathed  ferrets  and  such  like  ; 
"  would  you  like  to  go  round  the  yard  now,  God- 
frey, or  would  you  like  to  stay  here  under  the 
tree  ?  Or  would  you  like  to  go  and  see  if  there 
are  any  strawberries  ?  Or  have  you  too  many 
strawberries  up  at  Bladensbrook  ?  Or  shall  we 
go  and  see  if  Mrs.  Wilson  has  got  any  cakes  ? 
I  know  she  has  cakes,  for  I  was  in  the  kitchen 
this  morning,  and  saw  them  being  made.  They 
are  little  cakes,  you  know — '  fat  rascals' — with  cur- 
rants in.  Wouldn't  you  like  some  of  those,  God- 
frey ?" 


TOLD  BY  THE   GIPSY.  1 9 

Godfrey  sighed.  He  had  just  eaten  an  exceed- 
ingly good  lunch,  and  did  not  feel  that  even  fat 
rascals,  whose  quality  was  well  known  to  him, 
were  particularly  desirable.  However,  his  code 
of  manners  did  not  allow  him  to  refuse  the  offer- 
ing of  a  lady,  so  he  assented  to  her  proposal  that 
they  should  pay  a  visit  to  the  Rectory  cook,  and 
felt  himself  lucky  that  her  heart's  desire  did  not 
tend  towards  the  ferrets.  It  was  quite  a  new  ex- 
perience for  the  young  squire  to  find  himself  going 
round  to  the  kitchen  entrance  to  gather  largesse  of 
the  cook.  In  his  own  establishment  if  he  had 
desired  a  plateful  of  fat  rascals  he  would  have 
rung  the  bell  and  ordered  them,  but  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  doing  in  Rome  as  the  Romans  do,  he 
meekly  went  along  kitchenwards  with  Margot, 
who  calmly  told  the  two  boys  that  as  they  had 
been  exceedingly  rude  to  Mrs.  Wilson  during  the 
morning,  they  had  better  keep  themselves  out  of 
sight,  and  she  would  get  what  provender  she 
could  and  bring  it  out  to  the  hammock,  where 
they  would  divide  and  enjoy  the  spoils. 

Now  the  way  in  which  domestic  affairs  were 
arranged  at  Bladensbrook  was  no  secret  in  the 
village.  It  was  well  known  in  the  Rectory  kitchen 
that  if  the  young  squire  chanced  to  be  lunching  or 
dining  alone  he  would  be  waited  on  in  precisely 
the  same  state  as  if  his  mother  were  there  ;  it  was 
well  known  that  he  would  dress  for  his  dinner,  and 
have  the  regular  number  of  courses,  and  behave 
himself  as  if  he  were  forty  instead  of  fourteen  ;  so 
when  he  appeared  together  with  Miss  Margot  in 


2O  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

quest  of  fat  rascals,  Mrs.  Wilson  could — to  use 
her  own  phraseology — "  have  been  knocked  down 
with  a  feather."  "  Law,  there,  now,"  said  she,  to 
the  parlourmaid  afterwards,  "it  give  me  quite  a 
turn  when  I  see  that  grand  young  gentleman 
coming  along  with  Miss  Margot  to  ask  for  a  plate- 
ful of  fat  rascals.  Lucky  thing  to  have  had  'em 
by  me.  Many's  the  day  when  I  haven't  got  a  fat 
rascal  in  the  place,  and  it  would  have  looked  poor 
to  the  squire  if  we  hadn't  got  that  much.  I  don't 
think  he  had  ever  been  through  a  kitchen  door  in 
his  life  before.  He  touched  his  hat  and  he  says — 
'  Aw — good  day,'  as  if  he  was  a  long  way  off  and 
didn't  quite  see  me.  It  was  very  queer,  and  Miss 
Margot  she  says  to  me,  says  she,  '  Mrs.  Wilson,' 
she  says,  '  please  we  have  come  to  ask  you  a 
favour.'  '  Certainly  Miss — and  Sir,'  said  I.  '  Well, 
you  did  a  baking  of  fat  rascals  this  morning  ?'  '  I 
did,  Miss  Margot,'  says  I, '  and  Sir.'  '  Well,  please, 
Mrs.  Wilson,  if  you  don't  want  them  all  for  tea  we 
should  like  to  have  some,  because  the  squire  here 
has  never  tasted  a  fat  rascal  in  his  life,  have  you, 
Godfrey  ?'  The  young  squire  said  he  believed  as 
he  hadn't.  So  I  bustles  in  and  fetches  'em  out  a 
plateful,  and  temptin'  they  were.  I  meant  to  have 
had  that  plateful  for  our  tea,  Patterson,  though 
that's  neither  here  nor  there.  You  girls  must  just 
put  up  with  a  spoonful  of  jam  instead.  And  Miss 
Margot  said  to  me,  '  Are  these  all  you  made  this 
morning  ?'  '  They  are  not  quite  all,'  says  I. 
'Well,  then,  Mrs.  Wilson,  we'll  have  the  lot,' 
say  she;  'what  do  you  think?'  she  says,  turning 


TOLD  BY  THE    GIPSY.  21 

to  the  squire.  '  Aw,'  says  he,  '  yes — I  think  if 
Mrs.  Wilson  doesn't  mind  that  it  would  be  as 
well  to  have  the  lot.  You  see,  there  are  others.' 
Now  both  the  young  gentlemen  was  very  saucy 
to  me  this  morning;  but  there,  I  couldn't  deny 
Miss  Margot  before  the  squire's  very  face,  so  I 
bustled  in  again  and  I  fetched  out  all  that  I  had 
made.  It  do  go  to  my  heart,  but  there,  it's  to 
keep  up  the  credit  of  the  house,  and  Miss  Margot 
she  picks  out  a  little  nice  brown  one  and  she  sticks 
it  up  to  the  squire's  mouth  and  says,  '  Taste  that !' 
and  he  took  it  quite  meekly,  though  he  did  look 
as  if  he  was  forty  instead  of  fourteen,  and  she 
gives  me  a  nod  and  says,  '  Thank  you,  Mrs.  Wil- 
son, you  are  an  old  duck !'  and  then  they  went 
away  together  and  all  my  fat  rascals  with  'em." 

"  Godfrey,"  said  Margot,  as  they  turned  out  of 
the  back  premises  into  a  more  showy  part  of  the 
Rectory  demesne,  "  you  are  a  brick  !" 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Because  you  might  have  spoiled  everything  if 
you  had  been  stupid  and  stuck-up  and  pretended 
you  didn't  know  what  a  fat  rascal  was.  We  should 
have  been  undone,  and  Jack  and  Jim  would  have 
been  the  losers,  because  I  shouldn't  have  shared 
out  with  them  unless  I  had  got  the  lot." 

They  found  that  Jim  and  Jack  had  brought 
several  basket-chairs  out  under  the  great  elm,  and 
so  the  four  sat  and  disposed  of  the  dainty  little 
cakes,  Margot  and  Godfrey  sitting  in  the  hammock, 
which  her  restlessness  swung  to  and  fro,  and  the 
two  boys  reposing  in  deep  basket-chairs. 


22  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Margot,"  said  Jim,  with  his  mouth  full,  "  what 
a  brick  you  are,  though  you  are  a  girl !" 

"  No,  it's  Godfrey  who  is  the  brick,"  said  Margot. 
"  I  shouldn't  have  got  them  all  out  of  Mrs.  Wilson 
unless  Godfrey  had  been  there.  Godfrey,  I  think 
she  thought  you  were  going  to  hit  her." 

"  Oh,  no,  I  was  quite  civil." 

"  My  dear,  you  were  deadly  civil — deadly  civil, 
but  it  awed  Mrs.  Wilson,  and  I  can  tell  you,  God- 
frey, it  takes  a  lot  to  awe  Mrs.  Wilson." 

They  were  still  sitting  there,  and  the  last  of  the 
fat  rascals  had  vanished,  when  a  soft  voice  from 
the  other  side  of  the  privet  hedge  accosted  them  : 
"  My  pretty  lady  and  gentlemen,  let  the  poor  gipsy 
tell  your  fortune." 

"  Oh,  what  a  lark  !"  cried  Jack. 

"  What  do  you  charge,  because  we  haven't  got 
much  ?"  added  Jim. 

"  Cross  the  poor  gipsy's  hand  with  a  bit  of  silver. 
The  poor  gipsy  will  never  be  hard  on  young  ladies 
and  gentlemen." 

"  Well,  go  down  the  hedge  a  little  way  and  you 
will  come  to  a  gate.  Don't  let  any  one  see  you," 
said  Jim. 

"  Never  fear,"  answered  the  gipsy. 

A  few  minutes  later  there  was  a  rustling  behind 
them,  and  the  branches  of  the  great  elm  parted. 

"  I  have  got  no  money,"  said  Margot. 

"  Let  me  cross  the  gipsy's  palm  for  you,  Mar- 
got,"  said  Godfrey. 

The  Rectory  children  were  not  proud.  Their 
parents  were  very  comfortably  off,  and  their  pocket 


TOLD  BY  THE    GIPSY.  23 

money  was  quite  reasonably  indulgent,  but  they 
never  had  any  to  spare  as  Godfrey  had.  So  Mar- 
got  put  out  her  little  soft  palm,  and  Godfrey  laid  a 
shilling  upon  it.  The  gipsy  pocketed  the  shilling 
after  spitting  upon  it  for  luck,  and  holding  the 
little  soft  hand  looked  at  Margot  long  and  steadily. 
"  Years  and  years,  in  time  to  come,"  she  began,  in 
a  strange,  far-away  voice,  "  I  see  this  little  lady  set 
very  high  in  the  land.  The  future  is  not  all  bright, 
not  all  happiness.  Ambition  will  be  gratified,  I 
think,  although  there  is  not  much  ambition  in  your 
heart,  little  lady — not  much.  The  day  will  come 
when  that  proud  head  shall  bend,  when  those 
bright  eyes  shall  shed  tears,  when  all  the  world 
will  seem  black  and  dark,  but  always  remember 
this,  little  lady,  that  the  poor  gipsy  told  you  two 
things — first,  that  your  place  will  be  high,  second, 
that  your  lover  will  be  more  true  to  you  than  he 
seems  to  be.'' 

"  I  don't  call  that  much,"  said  Margot. 

"  Ah,  it  may  not  seem  much  to  the  little  lady 
now,"  the  gipsy  went  on,  "  but  it  will  seem  much 
by  and  by  when  she  comes  to  understand  the  poor 
gipsy's  words.  Tell  your  fortune,  my  pretty  gentle- 
man ?"  she  continued,  turning  to  Godfrey. 

"  Oh,  yes,  Mother,  certainly,"  holding  out  his 
hand  with  another  shilling  upon  it. 

She  took  that  shilling  and  spit  upon  that  also, 
presumably  for  luck,  and,  having  pocketed  it,  she 
attentively  scrutinized  both  the  palm  and  Godfrey. 
"  Great  wealth,  good  fortune,  high  place.  You  will 
always  drive  a  carriage  and  foui — men  servants 


24  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

and  maid  servants — and  one  black,  black  cloud — 
but  that  will  pass ;  I  don't  want  to  say  any  more." 

"  Come,  you  have  said  nothing,"  said  Godfrey, 
looking  resolutely  at  the  Romany  woman. 

She  gazed  back  at  him  sideways.  "  No,  pretty 
gentleman,  what  the  poor  gipsy  sees  in  your  hand, 
the  poor  gipsy  will  keep  to  herself." 

"  But  I  paid  you  to  tell  me !" 

"Not  so;  you  crossed  your  palm  for  luck. 
What  I  see  in  your  hand  I  would  not  tell  you  for 
worlds !" 


CHAPTER    III. 

MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS. 

IN  due  course  of  time  Godfrey  Bladensbrook 
passed  through  his  school-boy  days  and  was  en- 
tered at  Sandhurst,  as  the  preliminary  step  to 
going  into  the  army.  His  mother  had  not  been 
exactly  willing  that  he  should  take  up  any  profes- 
sion. To  her  it  was — or  should  have  been — 
enough  that  a  Bladensbrook  was  a  Bladensbrook ; 
but  Godfrey  thought  otherwise,  and  the  effect  of 
his  mother's  general  training  had  been  such  that, 
having  made  up  his  mind  to  go  into  the  army,  he 
showed  her  very  plainly,  though  with  perfect  po- 
liteness, not  to  say  deference,  that  as  the  head  of 
the  family,  as  Bladensbrook  of  Bladensbrook,  he 
did  not  expect  to  be  thwarted,  even  by  his  mother. 


MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  2$ 

Being  confronted  by  this  kind  of  spirit,  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook  had  no  choice  but  to  give  way,  but  for 
some  little  time  she  stood  firm  as  to  what  branch 
of  the  Service  her  son  should  enter.  Her  idea 
was  that  a  Bladensbrook  could  by  no  chance  go 
into  any  regiment  except  one  of  the  household 
troops ;  Godfrey  himself  had  a  preference  for  the 
cavalry  of  the  line,  and  for  some  little  time  it  was 
a  moot  point  whether  he  should  follow  his  own 
will  or  listen  to  the  dictates  of  his  mother's  reason. 
Eventually  young  Godfrey  carried  the  day,  and  he 
was  duly  entered  at  Sandhurst  with  the  object  of 
obtaining  a  commission  in  one  of  the  home  regi- 
ments. 

His  mother's  feelings  at  this  juncture  can  only 
adequately  be  described  as  being  mixed.  She  was 
like  a  mother  eagle  who  had  discovered  her  one 
chick  to  be  a  true-bred  eaglet.  If  you  can  imagine 
a  lady  of  that  stately,  feathered  race  so  imperious, 
so  filled  with  pride,  so  dominant  and  resolute  in 
will  that  she  could  brook  no  interference,  permit 
no  will  to  be  set  against  her  own,  and  who  had 
brought  up  her  one  chick  quite  as  if  he  were  but 
the  progeny  of  a  barn-door  fowl,  you  can  imagine, 
perhaps,  what  the  state  of  her  maternal  feelings 
would  be  when  she  discovered  that  her  chick  was 
no  barn-door  creature,  but  an  eaglet  as  proud,  as 
stately,  as  domineering,  as  imperious  as  herself. 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  curiously  mixed  in  sensa- 
tion— half  instinctively  annoyed  at  being  set  on  one 
side,  yet  half  proud  to  find  that  Godfrey  had  in- 
herited all  the  Pollington  imperiousness  in  addition 
B  3 


26  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

to  all  the  Bladensbrook  form  and  beauty.  Her 
mind  ran  something  like  this :  "  He  has  gone 
against  me,  against  my  wishes,  against  my  views, 
in  utter  contrariety  to  every  argument  that  I  have 
put  forward,  but  he  is  Bladensbrook  of  Bladens- 
brook, and  it  is  becoming  that  he  should  be  the 
ruler  of  his  own  destiny." 

In  some  senses  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  a  singu- 
larly ignorant  woman.  I  do  not  mean  in  the  way 
of  reading  or  writing,  or  the  etiquette  of  society, 
or  in  the  suitable  list  of  accomplishments  such  as 
every  woman  of  position  is  supposed  to  have  ac- 
quired— no,  not  in  that  way,  but  in  many  matters 
outside  her  own  immediate  existence  she  was 
strangely  deficient  in  knowledge.  She  quite  had 
an  idea  that  her  son  would  be  the  arbiter  of  his  own 
fortunes,  and  if  she  could  have  come  to  a  sense  of 
what  life  at  Sandhurst  really  was,  I  think  that  she 
would  have  taken  to  her  bed  and  died.  She  fondly 
imagined  that  Godfrey  would  take  there  precisely 
the  same  position  that  he  took  in  his  own  neigh- 
bourhood and  on  his  own  estates.  She  was  as 
deeply  interested  in  his  outfit  as  she  would  have 
been  in  the  trousseau  of  a  young  daughter  who 
was  going  to  marry  a  duke,  little  thinking  that 
nothing  would  be  held  sacred  from  the  inquisitive 
eyes  and  prying  fingers  of  the  other  young  gentle- 
men who  would  be  his  comrades  for  the  next 
couple  of  years. 

On  the  whole,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  got 
through  his  time  at  Sandhurst  very  well.  He  had 
little  or  no  fancy  for  anything  pertaining  to  the 


MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  2/ 

disreputable,  freaks  and  scrapes  had  no  pleasures 
or  terrors  for  him,  and  his  manners  being  irre- 
proachable and  his  sense  of  the  weight  of  authority 
extremely  well  defined,  he  went  on  from  beginning 
to  end  in  a  thoroughly  respectable  and  ordinary 
manner.  He  passed  well,  not  brilliantly,  but  ex- 
ceedingly well  for  so  rich  a  young  man,  and  in 
due  course  of  time  he  found  himself  gazetted  to 
the  25th  Dragoons,  otherwise  known  as  the  Black 
Horse,  then  quartered  at  Aldershot,  and  with  a 
couple  of  months'  leave  before  him. 

The  greater  part  of  this  leave  he  spent  at  Bla- 
densbrook,  and  somehow  or  other  Bladensbrook 
seemed  utterly  different  from  what  it  had  seemed 
during  all  his  previous  life.  For  one  thing  it  was 
soft  autumn  weather — weather  when  the  days  de- 
clined slowly  but  surely,  when  the  many-coloured 
leaves  were  fast  soddening  under  foot  and  the 
branches  from  which  they  had  fallen  becoming 
quickly  bare,  when  there  were  all  manner  of  out- 
door pursuits  to  occupy  a  young  fellow  just  nine- 
teen years  old,  such  as  shooting  and  cubbing  and 
rabbiting ;  and  he  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  in  the 
shelter  of  the  woods.  It  may  seem  a  queer  thing 
for  a  young  man  who  was  omnipotent  on  that  large 
estate  to  have  passed  many  hours  sitting  in  a  more 
or  less  damp  wood  on  the  lichen-covered  trunk  of 
a  fallen  tree.  There  were  so  many  things  that 
young  Bladensbrook  might  have  done  other  than 
that,  and  yet  that  was  his  chief  amusement. 

It  happened  that  autumn  that  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
had  been  suffering  from  a  severe  attack  of  bron- 


28  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

chitis,  and  she  intended,  so  soon  as  Godfrey  should 
have  joined  his  regiment,  to  betake  herself  to  the 
sunny  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Her  medical 
advisers  had  indeed  suggested  that  it  would  be  well 
if  she  went  immediately,  but  having  Godfrey  on 
her  mind,  and  having  arranged  with  him  that  she 
should  not  go  abroad  until  he  had  left  home,  no 
mere  suggestions  served  to  make  her  alter  her 
plans.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  one  of  those  ex- 
ceedingly tiresome  people  who  pride  themselves 
upon  keeping  to  their  original  programme,  and  she 
was  determined,  even  at  the  cost  of  her  life,  to 
carry  it  out  to  the  last  letter  in  this  particular  in- 
stance ;  consequently,  Godfrey  was  entirely  de- 
pendent upon  himself  for  all  out-door  occupations. 
Aforetime  there  had  been  calls  to  make,  drives  and 
walks  to  take  with  his  mother,  and  these  had  taken 
up  a  large  share  of  the  day;  now  he  never  saw 
her  until  lunch-time,  and  it  was  seldom  that  she 
enquired  how  he  had  occupied  himself;  indeed, 
it  was  part  of  her  code  that  she  should  not  in 
any  way  seem  to  spy  upon  her  son's  movements. 
After  lunch  he  would  sit  with  her  for  half  an  hour 
or  so,  and  then  she  would  say  to  him,  "Well,  don't 
you  mean  to  go  out  this  afternoon  ?"  and  then  he 
would  always  reply,  "  I  think  I  will  if  you  don't 
want  me  any  longer.  Is  there  anything  I  can  do 
for  you,  Mother?"  Sometimes  she  would  say  yes, 
and  more  often  she  would  say  no,  and  then  God- 
frey would  quietly  disappear  out  of  the  house  and 
be  seen  no  more  until  he  made  his  appearance 
dressed  for  dinner. 


MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  29 

As  I  have  said,  there  was  cubbing,  shooting,  and 
rabbiting,  but  there  was  not  very  much  of  the  first, 
and  Godfrey  did  not  go  out  more  than  once  a  week. 
He  did  shoot  a  good  deal,  but  rabbiting  he  had  no 
fancy  for,  so  that  he  had  a  good  deal  of  spare  time 
on  hand,  and,  as  I  have  said,  he  spent  a  good  deal 
of  it  sitting  on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree  in  that 
part  of  Bladensbrook  woods  which  was  familiarly 
known  as  the  fir  coppice.  Not  alone ;  oh,  dear, 
no  !  Although  he  was  only  just  turned  nineteen, 
and  the  one  little  damsel  down  at  the  Rectory  was 
three  years  younger,  nobody  knew  anything  about 
it.  Mrs.  Dangerfield  had  been  dead  more  than 
three  years,  and  the  old  Rector  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  day  shut  up  in  his  library  studying 
ecclesiastical  carvings.  Indeed,  he  was  writing  a 
book  on  the  subject,  a  book  which  was  to  inform 
the  world  what  sort  of  "  trimmings" — as  Margot 
persisted  in  calling  it — there  were  to  the  pillars  of 
all  the  different  cathedrals  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
a  stupendous  work  which  was  to  fill  exactly  twelve 
volumes.  Mr.  Dangerfield  had  got  about  a  third 
of  the  way  through  the  first  one,  and  became  more 
absorbed  in  the  subject  with  every  day  that  went 
over  his  head,  therefore  he  could  not  be  expected 
to  look  after  Margot.  It  had  been  suggested  to 
him,  at  the  time  of  his  wife's  death,  that  he  ought 
to  have  a  resident  governess  for  his  daughter,  or 
else  to  send  her  to  a  good  boarding-school ;  but  it 
happened  that  Mrs.  Dangerfield  had  always  had 
an  absolute  horror  of  that  method  of  educating 
young  girls,  while  the  Rector  had  an  equal  horror 
3* 


30  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

of  what  is  called  a  resident  governess.  He  had  a 
sort  of  dim,  half-defined  feeling  that  if  he  were  to 
start  a  resident  governess  she  would  soon  develop 
into  a  permanent  mistress  of  the  establishment ; 
so  he  resolutely  refused  to  make  any  such  addi- 
tion to  his  household.  "  Why  should  I  do  any- 
thing of  the  kind  ?"  he  said,  plaintively,  to  a 
widowed  sister  who  had  been  elaborately  ex- 
pounding her  views ;  "  Mrs.  Wilson  is  an  excel- 
lent housekeeper.  She  really  managed  everything 
in  my  dear  Claudia's  time,  and  has  a  good  general 
idea  of  what  we  liked  and  what  we  disliked  in  the 
matter  of  foods.  Claudia  never  knew  what  was 
coming  up  for  breakfast,  or  what  was  coming  up 
for  dinner,  and  why,  after  more  than  fifteen  years, 
should  I  take  these  details  out  of  Mrs.  Wilson's 
excellent  hands  and  put  them  into  the  hands  of 
an  incapable — or,  at  least,  a  person  whose  capabili- 
ties are  not  known  to  me?  I  really  must,  my  dear 
Marcia,  refuse  to  consider  the  question  altogether." 

"  But  the  child,  William,  the  child"  said  Mrs. 
Blake,  impatiently. 

"The  child?  You  mean  Margot?  Ah,  well, 
you  see  I  promised  my  dear  Claudia  that  I  would 
never  send  her  to  a  boarding-school.  I  believe 
she  had  been  at  one  herself  where  the  food  was 
insufficient,  or  something  of  that  kind ;  at  all 
events,  she  had  a  prejudice  against  boarding- 
schools  ;  and  I  made  her  a  promise,  poor  darling, 
within  a  week  of  her  death.  I  could  not  consent 
to  break  a  promise  to  Claudia,  my  dear  Marcia ;  it 
is  out  of  the  question." 


MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  31 

"  But,  my  dear  William,"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  "  you 
cannot  have  Margot  running  about  wild  here." 

"  Margot  running  about  wild  !  She  has  always 
run  about  wild.  She  has  beautiful  manners,"  said 
the  Rector,  looking  at  his  sister  over  the  tops  of 
his  spectacles. 

"  How  is  she  to  be  educated  ?" 

"  My  dear  Marcia,  her  mother  never  educated 
her.  Of  course,  Miss  Atkinson  will  come  over 
every  day  by  train,  as  she  has  been  accustomed  to 
do.  I  take  it  that  four  hours  in  the  morning  is 
quite  sufficient  to  ground  a  young  lady,  who  will 
have  a  very  tidy  income  of  her  own  by  and  by,  in 
all  that  is  necessary.  You  forget  that  Margot  will 
not  be  dependent.  Under  her  mother's  will  she 
will  have  about  six  hundred  a  year — er — h'm — at 
my  death,  and  therefore  I  do  not  consider  that  it  is 
necessary  she  should  be  educated  as  if  she  were 
going  to  be  a  Board  school-mistress.  Miss  Atkin- 
son is  a  very  conscientious,  excellent  person.  She 
has  given  us  unbounded  satisfaction  during  the 
two  years  that  she  has  been  coming  to  and  fro  on 
Margot's  account.  I  think  that  Margot  will  hold 
her  own  with  almost  any  young  person  of  her  age. 
She  reads  and  writes  French  exceedingly  well." 

"  And  her  music  and  her  dancing  and  drawing, 
and  all  the  other  things  that  a  girl  ought  to  know," 
interrupted  Mrs.  Blake,  hotly. 

"  Well,  my  dear  Marcia,  Margot  is  not  a  musical 
girl.  My  dear  Claudia  and  I  had  a  very  careful 
and  long  discussion  before  we  arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  Margot  would  be  wasting  time  to 


32  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

study  any  sort  of  music.  She  has  a  very  pretty 
turn  for  sketching — very  pretty,  indeed.  I  assure 
you  some  of  her  little  bits  done  from  Nature — the 
woods  and  the  waterfalls  and  the  cottages  in  the 
village — would  quite  astonish  you,  Marcia,  quite 
astonish  you,  I  am  sure,  but  for  music  she  has 
unfortunately  no  ear.  Now  I  ask  you  is  it  reason- 
able to  make  a  young  girl  waste  many  hours  of 
her  life  studying  something  for  which  she  has  no 
aptitude  and  at  which  she  will  never  be  able  to 
make  any  reasonable  progress  ?  I  take  it  that  I 
have  really  done  a  great  favour  to  my  neighbours, 
or  to  Margot's  future  neighbours,  not  to  attempt 
to  force  her  in  this  direction.  At  all  events,  that 
was  the  decision  I  arrived  at  with  my  darling 
Claudia,  and  nothing  now  would  induce  me  to 
allow  Margot  to  be  taught  music,  therefore  I  do 
not  wish — er — I  do  not  see — er — that  anything 
more  need  be  said.  I  assure  you,  Marcia,  I  am 
more  than  broken  down  with  my  irreparable  loss, 
with  our  irreparable  loss.  Nothing  can  ever  make 
up  to  us  for  the  bright  soul  who  has  gone.  I 
should  be  doing  ill  were  I  to  subject  Margot  to 
the  daily  dominance  of  a  person  who  would  be  a 
sort  of  paid  spy  upon  her.  Her  mother  always 
treated  Margot  as  a  responsible  person.  From  the 
time  that  she  was  a  baby — three,  four,  five  years 
old — Margot  was  always  treated  as  a  person  with 
enough  common  sense  to  carry  her  safely  through 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  We  have  found  the 
system  work  admirably,  quite  admirably,  my  dear 
Marcia,  I  assure  you.  For  instance,  there  is  round 


MA'S.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  33 

in  the  farm  buildings  a  chaff-cutting  machine.  Do 
you  know  what  a  chaff-cutting  machine  is,  Mar- 
cia  ?" 

"  I  don't,"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  shortly,  feeling  .that 
she  was  getting  the  worst  of  the  argument. 

"  A  chaff-cutting  machine,  my  dear  Marcia,  is  a 
thing  with  many  knives,  and  a  child  happening  to 
be  standing  too  near  might  easily  be  caught  by  its 
pinafore  or  something  and  drawn  through  its  teeth 
only  to  come  out  at  the  other  end  in  little  slices. 
They  are  fascinating  things  to  watch,  and  children 
mostly  love  them  dearly.  I  believe  that  some 
mothers  with  chaff-cutting  machines — I  mean  to 
say  some  mothers  who  have  chaff-cutting  machines 
upon  their  premises — suffer  untold  agony  on  ac- 
count of  the  tendency  of  children  always  to  go  where 
there  is  danger.  Now  my  dear  Claudia  was  a  wise 
woman.  When  we  came  here  to  Dangerfield,  she 
at  once  investigated  every  point  of  serious  danger. 
It  seemed  to  her  that  the  chaff-cutting  machine  was 
quite  the  most  dangerous  thing  in  the  establish- 
ment ;  so  she  gathered  her  children  together,  the 
two  boys  and  Margot,  and  she  said  to  them,  '  I 
want  you  to  come  with  me  into  the  chaff-cutting 
house.'  I  believe  that  Jim  remarked  that  it  would 
be  very  jolly,  but  Claudia  said,  '  Perhaps  it  won't 
be  as  jolly  as  you  think.  I  want  to  explain  to  you, 
my  dear  children,'  she  continued,  when  she  had 
them  all  assembled  in  the  little  shed  where  the 
machine  is,  '  that  this  is  a  most  dangerous  ma- 
chine. We  have  to  use  it,  because  chaff  must  be 
cut  up  and  properly  prepared  for  the  animals  to 


34  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

eat  it,  and  there  may  be  times  when  the  door  will 
be  unlocked  and  you  will  be  able  to  walk  in  as 
easily  as  you  can  walk  into  the  drawing-room. 
So  I  want  you  to  see  what  a  chaff-cutting  machine 
can  do.  I  have  brought  a  chicken  with  me.  Now, 
Bill,'  she  said  to  one  of  the  men,  '  I  want  you  to 
hold  this  so  that  the  machine  will  catch  it.  You, 
George,  will  be  good  enough  to  turn  the  machine 
for  me  exactly  as  you  do  when  you  are  cutting  up 
chaff.  Now,  children,  be  sure  that  you  watch  this. 
Now  Bill  will  hold  the  chicken  just  where  he  puts 
his  hand  and  he  will  leave  it  there.  Now,  do  you 
see  ?'  Well,  I  need  not  tell  you,  Marcia,  that  in 
about  three  minutes  that  chicken  was  perfectly 
useless  for  culinary  purposes,  and  when  they  had 
gathered  the  fragments  together,  my  dear  Claudia 
said  to  the  children,  '  Now,  I  want  you  to  clearly 
understand  that  if  you  get  any  of  your  fingers 
caught  in  this  chaff-cutter,  this  is  what  you  will 
come  out  like  at  the  other  end.'  It  was  far  better 
than  forbidding  them  to  go  into  the  chaff-cutting 
house.  I  feel,"  said  the  Rector,  resting  his  elbowi 
on  the  arms  of  his  chair  and  putting  the  tips  ol 
his  fingers  together,  "  that  in  carrying  out  my  deaj 
Claudia's  system — my  dear  dead  wife's  system  witr 
regard  to  the  children — that  I  shall  be  doing  thjf 
only  right  thing,  apart  from  our  irreparable  loss 
— for  already,  I  assure  you,  Marcia,  I  feel  terriblj 
the  want  of  somebody  to  go  and  talk  to,  somebodj 
to  whom  I  can  explain  my  book,  somebody  to 
whom  I  can  tell  little  details  in  the  parish,  some* 
body  to  whom  I  can  carry  my  little  worries  and 


MRS.  DANGERFIELD'S  NOTIONS.  35 

troubles,  more  than  you  perhaps  can  suspect.  I 
daresay  as  time  goes  on  I  shall  feel  it  less — time  is 
very  merciful  fo  all  of  us — but  I  should  ill  requite 
my  dear  Claudia  if,  now  that  she  is  removed  from 
us  to  our  intense  sorrow,  I  were  deliberately  to  alter 
one  jot  of  the  rules  she  has  laid  down  for  the  house- 
hold. Therefore,  Mrs.  Wilson  will  continue  to  be 
the  housekeeper,  as  she  has  been  for  fifteen  years ; 
Miss  Atkinson  will  continue  her  work  of  educating 
Margot, — that  is  to  say,  she  will  come  out  from 
Swanborough  every  morning  by  th  eight  o'clock 
train,  and  she  will  return  by  the  train  which  goes 
immediately  after  lunch.  Once  a  week  Margot 
will  go  in  for  her  dancing  lesson,  because  my  dear 
Claudia  was  firmly  of  opinion  that  dancing  was 
excellent  for  developing  a  young  girl's  figure  and 
for  improving  her  health.  She  will  go  to  church 
on  Sundays  and  sit  where  she  has  always  sat,  and 
sometimes  she  will  go  up  to  the  House  and  see 
our  good  friend  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  and  sometimes 
she  will  have  young  friends  here  or  she  will  go  to 
see  young  friends,  and  although  she  will  miss  her 
mother  terribly— terribly — yet  I  hope  that  her 
father  will  contrive  to  make  her  life  fairly  bright 
and  certainly  happy.  And  now,  Marcia,  my  dear 
sister,  I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  well-meant 
interference,  but  I  feel  there  is  nothing  more  to  be 
said  upon  the  subject." 

"  And  if  ever,"  Mrs.  Blake  said  to  herself  later 
on  when  thinking  over  the  conversation,  "  if  ever 
a  consummate  idiot  lived,  my  brother,  William 
Dangerfield,  is  that  one !" 


36  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

-.    x  HEYDAY. 

HOWEVER,  idiot  or  not,  the  Rector  was  the  master 
of  Danger-field  Rectory,  and  life  went  on  exactly 
as  he  had  said  it  would  do.  Time  did  soften  the  blow 
of  losing  his  wife ;  as  he  became  absorbed  in  his 
great  book  he  missed  her  less  and  less,  and  as 
Margot  grew  up  straight  and  strong  and  exceed- 
ingly fair  to  see,  as  she  made  very  good  progress 
with  her  lessons,  he  did  not  see  that  he  had  made 
any  mistakes  in  the  planning  out  of  her  every-day 
life. 

"  Always  remember,  Margot,"  he  said  to  her  one 
day,  when  she  had  shown  him  some  bold  little 
sketch  in  sepia  of  the  church-tower  and  one  angle 
of  the  church-yard,  "  always  remember  that  this  is 
your  gift.  General  education  is  very  well,  very 
good  for  all  of  us,  but  a  little  general  education 
goes  a  long  way,  but  a  little  cultivation  of  our  gift 
— whatever  our  gift  may  be — scarcely  goes  any 
way  at  all.  Any  mediocre  brain  can  learn  to  read 
and  write,  to  speak  good  English  and  intelligible 
French,  to  add  up  two  and  two  and  the  like ;  but 
to  be  able,  with  a  few  strokes  of  the  paint-brush, 
to  reproduce  a  scene  as  you  have  done  here,  that 
is  a  gift,  and  you  cannot  cultivate  a  gift  too  much, 
you  cannot  spare  too  much  time,  you  cannot  be- 
stow too  much  pains  upon  it;  therefore,  let  me 


HEYDAY.  37 

urge  you  as  your  best  friend  to  do  all  that  you 
can  to  increase  your  talent  in  this  direction.  Go 
to  Nature,  my  child,  go  to  Nature !  The  greatest 
painter  who  ever  glorified  the  English  nation  was 
one  William  Turner.  Why  did  Turner  succeed  ? 
Because  he  was  bold  enough  to  paint  Nature  as 
he  saw  her." 

Consequently,  when  Mrs.  Dangerfield  had  been 
dead  three  years,  and  Margot  had  found  out  the 
charms  of  sitting  upon  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree  in 
the  fir  coppice,  her  father's  advice  to  go  to  Nature 
stood  her  in  good  stead.  It  was  not  very  likely 
that  he  would  ask  her  on  her  return  where  she 
had  been.  If  he  did  so,  she  would  say,  "  Oh,  I 
have  been  painting  such  a  lovely  bit.  I  will  get  it 
and  show  you,  Dad."  But  Margot  kept  discreetly 
silent  about  trunks  of  fallen  trees.  Sometimes  she 
mentioned  quite  incidentally  that  she  had  seen 
Godfrey  Bladensbrook,  that  he  was  still  at  home 
looking  forward  very  much  to  joining  his  regiment, 
and  that  his  mother's  bronchitis  was  little,  if  any, 
better.  On  these  occasions  Mr.  Dangerfield  al- 
most invariably  made  the  same  remark,  "  Ah,  I 
am  afraid  that  iron  constitution  is  giving  way  a 
little.  I  must  go  up  and  see  my  good  friend.  A 
wonderful  woman,  Margot !  A  wonderful  woman  ! 
A  good  mother  to  young  Godfrey  if  ever  a  good 
mother  lived." 

"  Oh,  yes ;  Godfrey  always  says  so.  Godfrey 
adores  his  mother,"  Margot  would  say. 

"  Yes ;  well,  he  has  every  right  to  do  so.     I 
must  go  up  and  see  her.     I  will  go  to-morrow." 
4 


38  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG   MAN. 

And  sure  enough  the  following  day  the  Rector 
would  quietly  stroll  over  to  the  Hall  and  spend 
an  hour  very  profitably  with  its  mistress.  •  They 
were  great  friends,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  the  Rec- 
tor; they  had  many  ideas  in  common  and  a  mu- 
tual interest  in  looking  after  the  welfare  of  their 
children,  and  then,  you  see,  neither  of  them  knew 
that  at  that  very  moment  Godfrey  and  Margot 
were  sitting  two  miles  away  in  a  damp  wood  try- 
ing hard  to  catch  rheumatic  fever. 

"  Dad  has  gone  up  to  see  your  mother,"  Margot 
was  saying  at  the  very  moment  the  Rector  was 
condoling  with  the  mistress  of  the  great  house  on 
her  enforced  stay  indoors. 

"  Oh,  has  he  ?  Well,  that  is  awfully  good  of 
him,"  said  Godfrey.  "  You  know,  my  mother  is 
feeling  being  shut  up  most  awfully.  She  is  so 
active,  and  somehow  she  always  wants  to  be  in 
the  thick  of  everything,  that  it  is  a  real  hardship  to 
her  to  have  to  stay  cooped  up  a  perfect  prisoner 
as  she  is.  I  am  glad  the  Rector  has  gone  up  to 
see  her,  dear  old  chap.  I  always  think,"  he  went 
on,  reflectively,  leaning  forward  with  his  elbows 
on  his  knees  and  fixedly  regarding  the  knob  of  his 
stick,  "  I  always  think  my  mother  and  your  father 
must  have  a  great  deal  in  common.  You  see,  they 
both  got  left." 

"  Yes,  and  they  neither  of  them  got  married," 
said  Margot. 

"  Oh,  my  mother  wouldn't  have  married  any- 
body !" 

"  Neither  would  my  father,"  retorted  Margot. 


HE  YD  A  Y.  39 

"  Of  course,"  she  went  on,  with  a  sort  of  sigh,  "  if 
my  father  had  married  again,  or  if  he  had  listened 
to  Aunt  Marcia's  suggestion  that  I  should  have  a 
horrid  dragon  of  a  governess  stuck  always  in  the 
house,  life  would  have  been  dreadful  for  me — 
dreadful.  But  father  wouldn't ;  he  was  much  too 
loyal  to  mother.  He  wouldn't  send  me  to  school 
and  he  wouldn't  have  a  governess  in  the  house ; 
and  I  can  tell  you  it  was  a  blessing.  Why,  if  I 
had  had  a  step-mother,  or  even  a  governess,  I 
should  not  have  been  able  to  come  out  this  after- 
noon. I  should  have  had  to  say  where  I  was  go- 
ing and  what  I  was  going  to  do !  It  would  have 
been  dreadful !" 

"  I  suppose  the  Rector  never  asks  you  ?" 

"  No — sometimes  he  does.  Sometimes  he  says 
in  a  casual  sort  of  way,  '  Well,  Kitten,  where  have 
you  been  to-day  ?'  " 

"  And  you  always  tell  him  ?" 

"  Why,  yes.  If  I  have  been  in  the  woods,  I  say 
I  have  been  in  the  woods.  I  couldn't  tell  stories 
about  it.  Why  should  I  ?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  I  didn't  mean  that ;  but,  of  course, 
you  know,  Margot,  there  are  people  round  about 
Bladensbrook  who  might  think  it  a  little  out  of  the 
ordinary  that  you  and  I  should  be  as  good  friends 
as  we  are."  ' 

"  Yes,"  Margot  admitted,  "  that  is  quite  true.  I 
remember  how  last  year  they  used  to  talk  over 
Miss  Westaby  and  the  curate;  but,  then,  they 
were  going  to  be  married,  and  that  is  different  to 


40  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  I  don't  know  why  it  should  be  so  different  to 
us,"  said  Godfrey,  working  vigorously  at  the  dis- 
placement of  a  root  which  had  grown  above 
ground. 

"  Ah,  well,  but  it  is,"  said  Margot.  "  I  like  you 
and  you  like  me,  and  we  are  great  friends,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  you  are  going  into  the  Black  Horse 
when  this  leave  comes  to  an  end,  and  I — well,  I 
don't  know  what  is  going  to  happen  to  me." 

"  What  do  you  think  is  going  to  happen  to 
you  ?"  said  Godfrey. 

"Well,  I  don't  know,  but  I  rather  think  that 
father  intends  to  get  six  months*  leave  and  to 
take  me  abroad." 

"  Oh,  is  that  a  new  scheme  ?" 

"  Well,  it  is  and  it  isn't.  You  see,  father  is  writ- 
ing this  book  on  ecclesiastical  carvings — the  trim- 
mings on  the  tops  of  the  pillars,  you  know — and 
he  wants  to  compare  all  the  principal  cathedrals  in 
England  with  all  the  principal  cathedrals  on  the 
Continent.  He  and  my  mother  always  promised 
themselves  that  they  would  take  this  trip,  and 
father  doesn't  see  why  he  and  I  should  not  go  just 
the  same." 

"  And  after  that  ?"  said  Godfrey. 

"  After  that,"  said  Margot,  "  I  don't  know.  One 
never  knows  what  will  happen.  You  see,  I  shall 
be  seventeen  when  we  come  back  again,  and  I 
shall  have  done  with  Miss  Atkinson  and  all  that 
lot,  and  I  shall  come  out  and  go  to  dances  and 
that  sort  of  thing." 

"  And  perhaps,"  said  Godfrey,  in  a  voice  which 


HEYDAY.  41 

he  tried  hard  to  make  quite  an  ordinary  one,  "  and 
perhaps  you  might  marry  somebody." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  might  marry  somebody,"  said  Mar- 
got,  lightly  ;  "  I  might  meet  with  a  German  prince, 
or  an  Italian  count,  or  a  French  circus  rider,  or 
come  back  here  and  marry  a  curate:  one  never 
knows.  If  I  was  going  to  marry  anybody,"  she 
went  on,  "  I  would  rather  not  marry  him  here.  I 
would  rather  not  have  it  happen  here." 

"Why?"  he  asked. 

"  Because  round  about  Bladensbrook  everybody 
talks  so — they  all  do  it,  we  all  do  it,  everybody 
does  it;  and  when  Miss  Westaby  married  Mr. 
Winnington,  do  you  know  she  wasn't  even  let  to 
choose  her  own  wedding-gown  ?  no,  indeed  she 
wasn't !  Miss  Westaby  made  up  her  mind  she 
would  be  married  in  a  travelling  dress,  which  was 
most  sensible  of  her,  though,  all  the  same,  I  would 
rather  be  married  in  white  myself.  She  bought 
herself  a  tailor-built  dress  when  she  was  in  Lon- 
don— perfect !  I  assure  you,  Godfrey,  it  was  just 
perfect,  and  you  know  what  a  good  figure  Miss 
Westaby  had ;  she  really  looked  killing  in  it,  and 
she  had  a  dear  little  duck  of  a  hat  to  match,  and, 
in  fact,  everything  that  suited  her  best.  But  Mrs. 
Westaby  must  needs  go  and  tell  all  the  old  ladies 
and  people,  you  know,  what  her  daughter  was 
going  to  wear,  and  they  all  said  she  must  be  mar- 
ried in  a  bride's  dress.  She  said  she  wouldn't  be 
married  in  a  bride's  dress,  that  she  was  going  to 
live  in  an  East  End  parish,  and  she  wouldn't  be 
able  to  wear  out  a  white  satin  dress,  and  she 
4* 


42  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

wouldn't  buy  a  white  satin  dress.  But  they  wor- 
ried her  to  such  an  extent  that  at  last  she  gave 
way  and  compromised  the  matter,  and  she  was 
married  in  a  handsome  brown  brocade,  in  which 
she  looked  perfectly  dowdy.  No,  it's  very  certain 
that  any  girl  living  within  five  miles  of  Bladens- 
brook  will  have  a  better  time  if  she  marries  whilst 
she  is  away  on  a  visit." 

"  But  if  she  wanted  a  Bladensbrook  man  ?"  God- 
frey suggested. 

"  I  couldn't  imagine  anybody  wanting  a  Bladens- 
brook man,"  said  Margot.  "  There  is  only  one 
family  in  Bladensbrook  who  is  worth  looking  at, 
and  that  is  your  own ;  and  you  are  much  too  young 
to  even  think  about  being  married  for  years  to 
come !" 

"  You  think  so  ?" 

"  My  dear  Godfrey,  you  are  only  nineteen  ;  you 
are  out  of  the  running  altogether,  and  you  will 
never  marry  anybody  in  Bladensbrook.  You  will 
go  away  into  the  army  next  month,  and  you  will 
marry  a  royal  princess  or  a  duke's  daughter,  or 
something  of  that  kind.  All  these  Westabys  and 
such  like  are  not  for  you — at  least,  you  are  not 
for  them." 

To  do  Margot  justice,  she  uttered  the  words 
without  the  smallest  sense  of  their  in  any  way  ap- 
plying to  herself.  To  her,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook 
was  as  much  a  thing  apart  from  any  idea  of  an 
eventual  marriage  as  he  would  be  in  the  case  of 
people  like  the  Westabys.  He  was  her  great 
friend,  her  chum,  her  better  than  brother,  but  she 


HE  YD  A  Y.  43 

had  no  second  thoughts  in  so  deliberately  discuss- 
ing the  question  of  his  eventual  marriage.  And 
Godfrey  Bladensbrook  worked  harder  than  ever 
trying  to  dig  up  the  root  which  grew  just  across 
his  feet.  For  a  moment  or  two  there  was  silence, 
then  he  said,  without  looking  at  his  companion 
and  in  a  tone  which  was  very  much  Bladensbrook 
of  Bladensbrook,  "  I  suppose  as  you  would  regard 
Jim  and  Jack,  you  would  call  nineteen  fearfully 
young ;  but  I  am  not  like  most  fellows  of  nineteen  : 
I  have  always  taken  a  man's  place  in  the  world.  I 
have  always  been  practically  my  own  master,  and 
when  I  make  up  my  mind  about  a  thing  I  don't 
often  change  it." 

"  Yes,  that  is  true,"  said  Margot. 

"  When  I  want  to  get  married,"  he  went  on,  with 
a  certain  lofty  doggedness,  "  I  shall  get  married. 
It  may  be  in  or  out  of  Bladensbrook,  and  she  may 
be  a  duke's  daughter  or — well — a  girl  of  less  place 
in  the  world,  but  I  shall  marry  her  all  the  same, 
and  all  the  talking  in  the  county  won't  stop  me." 

"  I  like  to  hear  you  say  that !"  said  Margot,  en- 
thusiastically ;  "  it  is  quite  lovely  !  But  then,  you 
know,  you  are  a  Bladensbrook :  you  can  do  what 
you  like ;  everybody  is  not  so  lucky." 

"  And  yet  you  think,"  said  he,  turning  to  her 
for  the  first  time,  "  that  this  Bladensbrook  is  too 
young  to  know  his  own  mind." 


44  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER  V. 

YOUNG  FOLKS'  WAYS. 

OF  a  truth,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  had  been  well 
within  the  truth  when  he  told  Margot  Dangerfield 
that  he  was  not  like  other  young  men  of  his  age — 
that  he  had  always  taken  a  man's  place  in  the 
world,  had  always  been  practically  his  own  mas- 
ter. That  was  so.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  has  always 
treated  him  first  as  the  master  of  Bladensbrook, 
and  then  as  her  son.  As  soon  as  he  had  entered 
upon  his  teens  she  had  been  careful  to  keep  him 
well  informed  as  to  every  change  or  innovation 
that  had  taken  place  in  connection  with  his  estates, 
and  as  soon  as  he  left  school  and  entered  at  Sand- 
hurst, she  had  made  a  rule  of  consulting  him  upon 
every  point  above  those  of  ordinary  importance. 
In  some  ways  this  was  a  good  thing  for  the  boy, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  it  gave  him  a  sense  of  his 
own  dignity  and  a  somewhat  exaggerated  idea  of 
the  importance  of  his  opinions  and  decisions.  It 
was  not  his  fault,  but  he  could  not  understand  that 
the  opinion  of  others  might  be  more  valuable  than 
his  own.  His  mother's  most  firmly  rooted  idea 
had 'been  that  the  upper  classes  in  this  country 
consisted  of  the  Peerage,  the  Bladcnsbrooks,  and 
the  county  families,  but  the  effect  of  her  teaching 
upon  her  son  had  been  such  as  to  give  him  a  de- 
cided notion  that  they  consisted  of  the  Bladens- 


YOUNG  FOLKS1    WAYS.  45 

brooks  and  then  the  Peerage.  The  two  boys  at  the 
Rectory  were  really  the  only  people  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood who  ever  treated  him  strictly  as  one  of 
themselves.  They  were,  as  I  have  said  before,  a 
little  younger  in  years  than  young  Bladensbrook, 
but  they  would  have  died  the  death  rather  than 
have  deferred  to  him  in  any  possible  way.  They 
were  both  well-looking,  tall,  well-bred  lads, — Jim 
destined  for  a  career  in  a  line  regiment,  and  Jack 
already  launched  upon  the  only  profession  that  he 
had  ever  consented  to  hear  of,  that  is*  the  Royal 
Navy.  They  had  been  intimate  with  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook  for  years  and  years ;  they  addressed 
him  as  "  old  chap"  and  other  such  boyish  terms 
of  endearment,  wrangling  with  him  enough  to 
show  that  there  was  no  superiority  in  being  a  Bla- 
densbrook— in  their  minds,  at  least,  even  if  they 
were  the  only  minds  in  the  world  which  followed 
that  particular  bent. 

And  Margot,  of  course,  treated  him  precisely 
in  the  same  way,  except  that  she  never  wrangled. 
She  didn't  mind  frankly  saying  that  she  considered 
the  Bladensbrooks  the  only  family  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood worth  calling  a  family,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  she  never  in  any  sense  flattered  Godfrey ;  she 
had  never  done  so  from  their  earliest  acquaintance. 
The  fact,  that  if  he  was  dining  alone  he  would 
be  waited  upon  in  full  state,  made  no  difference 
to  Margot.  If  he  happened  to  be  down  at  the  Rec- 
tory when  the  nursery  tea  was  on,  Margot  would 
ask  him  to  share  whatever  it  was  without  any  idea 
of  remembering  the  contrast  between  their  plain, 


46  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

wholesome,  nursery  fare  and  the  elaborate  meals 
to  which  he  was  used.  Many  was  the  slice  of 
thick  bread  and  treacle  with  which  Margot  had 
regaled  him  in  their  younger  days,  and  her  hazel 
eyes  would  have  opened  very  widely  indeed  had 
anyone  told  her  that  his  very  gorge  rose  at  the 
sight  of  that  particular  dainty.  But  with  all  the 
other  young  people  for  miles  round  Bladensbrook 
he  was  very  different.  To  them  he  was  always 
painted  in  the  colours  in  which  his  mother  had 
painted  him :  he  was  always  the  master  of  Bla- 
densbrook; he  was  always  the  lucky  owner  of 
thirty  thousand  a  year.  No  other  boys  and  girls 
besides  the  Dangerfields  had  ever  been  able  to  get 
over  the  feeling  that  he  was  a  thing  apart.  With 
Margot,  it  was  always  "  Jim,  and  Jack,  and  God- 
frey," and  this  was  perhaps  why  the  young  squire 
was  on  such  entirely  intimate  terms  at  the  Rectory 
as  he  was. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  him  to  take  his  de- 
parture from  home  to  join  his  regiment  at  Alder- 
shot,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  began  to  improve  in 
health,  and  was  able  to  accompany  him  to  various 
places  which  she  considered  it  necessary  he  should 
visit  before  his  departure.  It  was  characteristic  of 
this  lady  that  she  let  her  only  child  go  out  into 
the  world  without  in  any  way  attempting  to  give 
him  advice,  or  to  bind  him  down  to  any  particular 
line  of  conduct.  Many  women,  when  their  sons 
make  their  first  plunge  from  the  home  nest,  egg  on 
their  husbands  to  bestow  a  little  wholesome  advice 
upon  them  out  of  their  own  wider  experience,  and 


YOUNG   FOLKS'    WAYS.  47 

some  mothers  who  do  not  happen  to  have  hus- 
bands, or  whose  husbands  object  to  preaching  to 
their  sons,  find  an  opportunity  of  saying  at  least 
a  word  or  two  which  they  may  carry  with  them  in 
times  of  temptation,  of  doubt,  or  of  difficulty  after- 
wards. Not  so  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  She  didn't  so 
much  as  say,  "  Godfrey,  you  will  remember  before 
all  things  that  you  carry  with  you  the  honour  of 
the  Bladensbrook  family."  She  didn't  say  to  him 
that  she  hoped  he  would  remember  that  when  the 
time  came  for  him  to  marry  he  must  choose  one 
who  would  be  fitting  and  suitable  to  his  position. 
No,  not  a  single  word.  She  took  his  advice  upon 
various  matters  connected  with  the  management 
of  the  estates,  she  spoke  of  his  going  as  she  might 
have  spoken  of  his  paying  a  short  visit,  she  spoke 
of  his  return  in  much  the  same  manner,  but  from 
first  to  last  she  never  gave  utterance  to  a  single 
word  which  in  any  way  savoured  of  advice  giving. 
From  his  infancy  she  had  brought  him  up  to  re- 
gard the  honour  of  the  Bladensbrooks  as  the 
proudest  of  his  possessions,  and  now  that  he  had 
arrived  at  man's  estate  she  did  not  condescend 
even  to  remind  him  that  such  a  possession  was 
his. 

Naturally,  as  he  had  to  pass  more  time  in  at- 
tendance upon  his  mother,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook 
saw  Margot  less ;  yet  the  meetings  in  the  wood 
were  not  stopped,  and  the  very  day  before  his  de- 
parture found  him  sitting  in  the  same  place  on  the 
trunk  of  a  fallen  tree  with  Margot  Dangerfield  by 
his  side. 


48  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  My  mother  has  sent  down  to  the  Rectory  to  ask 
you  and  the  Rector  to  come  to  dinner  to-night — 
my  last  night,"  he  said,  when  she  had  settled  her- 
self down  comfortably. 

"  Really  !     What  made  her  think  of  that  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know.  My  mother  is  a  woman  who 
does  think  of  things.  She  knew  that  I  should  be 
glad  if  she  did  ask  you.  You  will  come,  of  course?" 

"  Oh,  of  course,"  said  Margot.  "  Father  wasn't 
going  anywhere  to-night,  and  he  is  sure  to  have 
accepted," 

"  We  have  got  to  the  last  day  now,"  said  God- 
frey, pegging  away  at  the  root  which  he  had 
almost  succeeded  in  excavating. 

"  Yes.  Oh,  Godfrey,  it  will  be  horribly  dull 
when  you  are  gone,"  she  said,  in  a  matter  of  fact 
tone.  "  I  feel  so  lost  when  Jim  and  Jack  first  go 
away  from  home  ;  but  when  you  are  all  gone,  when 
there  is  not  one  of  you  here,  it  really  is  dreadful. 
However,  we  sha'n't  be  very  long  here  after  you, 
that's  one  comfort." 

"You  will  come  in  the  wood  then,  I  suppose?" 

"  Sometimes,"  she  returned. 

"  But  not  with  any  one  else  ?"  he  said,  half  hesi- 
tatingly. 

"  My  dear  old  boy,"  said  the  girl,  "  who  could  I 
come  with  ?  Jack  won't  be  back  for  months  and 
months,  and  Jim  would  rather  see  me  shot  before 
he  would  come  into  the  woods  with  me.  He  hates 
woods.  I  don't  know  why  he  should,  but  he  does. 
He  says  they  are  damp  and  creepy  and  generally 
horrible.  There  is  no  one  else." 


YOUNG   FOLKS'    WAYS.  49 

"  But  would^you  come  with  anyone  else  if  there 
was  ?"  he  persisted. 

"  I  don't  know.  It  would  depend.  I  don't  think 
so.  How  long  shall  you  be  away  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know.  A  year,  I  should  think. 
I  may  get  a  few  days'  leave,  but  I  shall  not  have 
any  long  leave  until  next  winter." 

"  We  shall  be  home  by  then,"  said  Margot. 

"  And  then  you  will  be  quite  grown  up.  You 
won't  think  me  so  awfully  young  then,  Margot." 

"  I  don't  think  you  so  awfully  young  now,"  she 
returned ;  "  not  in  the  way  you  mean.  I  think 
you  are  very  old  for  your  age." 

"  You  think  I  don't  know  my  own  mind." 

"  I  never  said  so  !" 

"  I  think  you  did." 

"  Well,  if  I  said  it,  I'll  stick  to  it ;  but  perhaps  I 
didn't  altogether  mean  it,  because  I  have  not  known 
you  change  your  mind  very  much,  it  is  true." 

"  You  will  remember,"  he  said,  with  the  gravity 
of  extreme  youth,  "  you  will  remember  by  and  by 
that  I  am  the  least  changeable  person  in  all  the 
world.  And  as  to  our  being  young,  we  are  both 
young,  Margot,  and  it's  a  fault  we  shall  mend  of 
every  day  that  we  live.  I  am  young — much  too 
young  to  ask  you  to  consider  yourself  engaged  to 
me,  because  you  might  change  your  mind,  and  I 
should  not  like  to  feel  that  I  had  placed  you  in  a 
position  which  would  make  it  necessary  for  you  to 
ask  me  to  give  you  up." 

"  I — I — don't  altogether  understand  you  "  she 
said,  beginning  to  tremble. 
c       d  5 


50  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"You  don't?  You  don't?"  he  echoed.  "I 
think  it  is  so  simple.  It  is  just  this,  Margot:  you 
and  I  have  been  boy  and  girl  together,  and  I  am 
going  away  to-morrow — possibly,  never  to  come 
back  again.  It  will  be  years  and  years  before  I 
really  live  at  Bladensbrook  again,  and  it  wouldn't 
do  for  me  to  ask  you  to  marry  me  now  because 
we  should  have  to  wait  so  long — more  than  two 
years  at  the  very  earliest — so  I  cannot  say  much 
more  to  you  than  this,  that  you  will  never  have  in 
all  your  life  a  truer  friend  than  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook, even  if  he  is  too  young  to  know  his  own 
mind." 

"  I  don't  think,"  said  Margot,  casting  a  half-in- 
dignant glance  at  him,  "  that  you  need  have  said 
that  to  me.  I  didn't  mean  anything  unkind  when 
I  called  you  so  young.  You  are  young — we  are 
both  horribly  young,  and  the  idea  of  what  you 
suggested  just  now  never  came  into  my  mind  be- 
fore. I  never  thought  of  you  as  anything  but  as 
I  think  of  Jim  and  Jack.  I — I — shall  miss  you 
dreadfully  when  you  are  gone,  because  we  have 
always  been  such  friends,  you  and  I,  and  because 
— well,  for  other  things  than  just  that.  Don't  say 
anything  more  about  it,  Godfrey.  As  you  say, 
you  are  going  away  for  years  and  years,  and  when 
you  see  other  people  you  don't  know  what  you 
will  feel  like.  I — I — you  don't  know  what  /  shall 
feel  like.  I — I — don't  know  myself — I  think  I 
shall  go  home.  I  feel — I  feel — -frightened" 

She  got  up  as  she  spoke,  and  stood .  half  turned 
away  from  him.  He  looked  at  her  irresolutely  for 


GODFREY  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  51 

a  moment.  "  Margot,"  he  said,  at  last,  "  I  ought 
not  to  have  said  anything  of  this  to  you  at  all.  I 
feel  in  a  sense  as  if  I  had  betrayed  our  friendship. 
You  will  forgive  me,  won't  you  ?  I  am  cut  up  at 
having  to  go  away  to-morrow,  although  I  am  go- 
ing by  my  own  choice  and  by  my  own  wish.  You 
are  sure  that  you  are  not  angry  with  me  for  having 
said  what  I  did  ?" 

"  Oh — no — I  am  not  angry,"  she  said,  hurriedly. 

"  You  would  rather  that  I  didn't  walk  back  with 
you  ?" 

"  Yes ;  and  I  would  rather  go  now,  and  you  can 
go  home  by  the  other  way — by  the  park  road.  I 
would  much  rather." 

"  And  you  will  not  forget  me  ?" 

"  Oh,  no.  I  promise  you  I  won't  forget  you." 
She  put  out  both  her  hands  to  him,  and  a  glint  of 
sunlight  came  through  the  fir  trees,  falling  upon 
her  radiant  hair  and  showing  up  the  depths  of  her 
brilliant  hazel  eyes.  She  was  half  frightened,  and 
yet  she  was  irresistible,  and  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives  the  young  squire  bent  down  and  kissed  her 
upon  the  lips. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

GODFREY   THE    MAGNIFICENT. 

BEFORE  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  had  been  a  week 
with  his  regiment  he  had  been  dubbed  "  Godfrey 
the  Magnificent."  You  know  soldiers  are  very 
quick  to  find  out  a  man's  weak  points.  For  years 


52  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

past  no  subaltern  had  joined  the  Black  Horse  with 
so  little  annoyance  to  himself  as  this  young  man. 
Perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  regi- 
ment the  time-honoured  operation  which  is  known 
as  "  drawing"  a  youngster  was  admitted  to  be  a 
dismal  failure.  It  was  not  that  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook  resented  the  process — he  knew  his  fate,  and 
prepared  himself  at  once  cheerfully  to  meet  it ;  but 
he  was  so  cheerful,  his  manners  were  so  good,  his 
acquiescence  so  complete,  that  for  once  the  salt  had 
lost  its  savour  altogether. 

It  would  be  hard  to  say  why  he  had  been  so 
speedily  dubbed  "  the  Magnificent."  It  might  have 
been  because  he  had  a  full  set  of  photographs, 
neatly  framed  in  black,  of  his  ancestral  home — the 
North  front,  the  South  front,  the  East  front,  the 
West  terrace,  the  pavilion  in  the  garden,  the 
stabling,  the  historic  oak  in  the  park,  the  view 
across  the  mere,  a  view  of  the  great  drawing-room, 
another  of  the  picture  gallery,  and  a  third  of  the 
great  hall  with  all  its  treasures  of  armour  and  of 
curiosities.  Naturally,  when  his.  rooms  got  put 
into  shape,  the  regiment  took  an  opportunity  of 
inspecting  them.  Godfrey's  rooms  were  very  sim- 
ple. He  was  too  sensible  and  too  thoroughly  pos- 
sessed with  a  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things  to  have 
anything  approaching  to  fine  furniture  in  bachelor 
quarters,  but  still  they  were  all  rather  new.  A 
dark  felting  covered  the  floor,  and  was  brightened 
by  one  or  two  Eastern-looking  rugs ;  he  had  the 
rooms  repapered, — which,  indeed,  was  very  neces- 
sary,— and  his  curtains,  though  plain,  were  of  the 


GODFREY   THE  MAGNIFICENT.  53 

thick  material  known  as  "plushette,"  and  were 
quite  handsome  looking.  His  only  extravagance 
was  in  pictures  and  in  his  toilet  equipment ;  every- 
thing else  was  simple  and  suitable.  Even  his 
toilet  things  were  but  modestly  good — ordinary 
ivory-backed  brushes  with  his  crest  and  monogram 
engraven  upon  them,  an  ordinary  large-sized  toilet 
glass  that  would  pack  up  flat  into  a  case  when  he 
should  have  to  make  a  move ;  but  the  pictures — 
well,  it  was  not  that  they  were  so  magnificent,  but 
they  were  so  many.  Besides  the  views  of  Bladens- 
brook,  there  was  a  portrait  of  his  father  and  a  por- 
trait of  his  mother,  a  fine  photograph  of  Margot 
Dangerfield,  a  great  many  sporting  sketches  which 
he  had  had  at  Sandhurst,  and  a  quantity  of  old 
engravings  of  all  sizes  and  all  degrees  of  value. 

The  first  day  that  his  rooms  were  what  might 
be  called  finished,  a  couple  of  his  brother  officers 
sauntered  in  to  reconnoitre. 

"  Well,  you  have  got  plenty  of  pictures,  Bladens- 
brook,"  remarked  Linden,  looking  round. 

"  Yes,  I  like  pictures,  even  if  they  are  not  of 
much  value,"  said  Godfrey,  choosing  a  cigarette 
from  a  box  on  the  chimney-shelf. 

"  Ah,  yes ;  they  make  a  room  look  very  home- 
like— very  homelike,  indeed.  By  Jove,  that's  a 
fine  place !" 

Godfrey  looked  up  carelessly.  "  Yes,  it  is, 
rather." 

"  Your  own  home  ?"  asked  Linden. 

"  Yes,  that  is  my  home." 

"  All  these  your  home  ?" 
5* 


54  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Different  views,"  said  Godfrey,  indifferently. 

"  Very  fine  place,"  said  Linden,  after  having  care- 
fully looked  round  the  room.  Then  he  brought 
himself  to  an  anchorage  in  the  chair  opposite  to 
the  fire  and  helped  himself  to  a  cigarette  from  the 
box  which  Godfrey  handed  to  him.  "  By  the  bye, 
have  you  any  brothers  ?" 

"  No ;  I  have  no  brothers  or  sisters,"  Godfrey 
replied. 

"  Really  ?  Well,  perhaps  that  is  as  well  for 
you." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Godfrey,  carelessly. 
"  I  would  have  liked  brothers  and  sisters  well 
enough  if  I  had  had  them." 

"  Well,  my  dear  chap,  I  have  got  any  quantity 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  and  I  can  tell  you  it  isn't 
all  beer  and  skittles  being  one  of  a  large  family." 

"  No,  I  suppose  not,"  rejoined  Godfrey ;  "  but 
still,  I  should  have  liked  them  well  enough." 

"  I  thought,  perhaps,"  Linden  went  on,  with  a 
fine  air  of  carelessness,  "  that  this  might  be  your 
sister,"  pointing  to  the  portrait  of  Margot,  which 
stood  at  one  end  of  the  chimney-shelf. 

"  That  ?  Oh,  dear,  no,"  said  Godfrey,  in  a  very 
heart-whole  tone,  or  what  sounded  so ;  "  that's  the 
picture  of  our  Rector's  daughter  at  Bladensbrook. 
No  relation  of  mine." 

"  She  is  very  pretty,"  remarked  Linden. 

"  Oh,  yes,  she  is  very  pretty,"  said  Godfrey, 
without  hesitation, "  awfully  pretty.  A  good-look- 
ing family.  Her  two  brothers  are  two  of  the  best- 
looking  chaps  I  know." 


GODFREY  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  55 

"  Ah  !     Parsons  ?" 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it.  One  has  gone  into  the  Line 
and  the  other  one  into  the  Navy." 

"  Really  ?  You  don't  say  so  ?  Ah,  by  the  bye, 
are  you  going  into  town,  or  anything  ?" 

"No;  I  am  not  going  down  just  yet,"  Godfrey 
answered.  "  I  must  write  half  a  dozen  letters  be- 
fore I  turn  out.  I  have  some  cheques  and  things 
to  send  off  which  won't  wait." 

"  Well,  then,  St.  George  and  I  will  be  going 
down,  old  fellow.  There  is  a  bazaar  thing  on. 
Shall  you  look  in  ?" 

"  Yes ;  I  will  go  straight  down  there.  It  is  at 
the  Town  Hall,  isn't  it  ?" 

"  Yes." 

The  two  departed  then  and  went  off  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  town  together.  "  I  suppose,  then," 
said  Linden  to  his  companion,  "  that  this  young 
chap  will  come  in  for  everything." 

"  My  dear  fellow,  he  has  come  in  for  everything." 

"  Oh  !     Is  his  father  dead  ?" 

"  Oh,  dear,  yes ;  died  years  and  years  and  years 
ago.  I  remember  it  quite  well.  He  was  kicked 
to  death  by  one  of  his  horses.  It  must  be  sixteen 
or  seventeen  years  ago." 

"  Oh,  I  didn't  know  he  was  actually  in  posses- 
sion." 

"  Oh,  yes ;  from  the  time  he  was  quite  a  little 
chap.  I  believe  he  is  tremendously  rich." 

"  You  don't  say  so  ?  Well,  for  a  rich  chap,  he 
isn't  beastly  assuming.  That  is  something,  be- 
cause, you  know,  we  should  have  had  to  take  it 


56  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

out  of  him ;  but,  really,  he  is  wonderfully  in  shape 
already." 

"  Oh,  wonderfully.  I  think  he  is  a  nice  young 
chap." 

I  don't  wish  to  imply  that  life  for  Godfrey  Bla- 
densbrook  was  all  honey  and  roses,  because  it  was 
nothing  of  the  kind.  He  was  "  drawn"  almost 
every  night  for  the  first  six  weeks  after  he  had 
joined,  and  his  rooms  soon  began  to  assume  that 
half-apologetic  air  which  you  generally  find  about 
an  officer's  quarters.  What  his  brother  officers 
began,  his  two  big  dogs  completed,  and  at  the  end 
of  six  months  nobody  could  have  told  that  the 
furniture  had  been  so  short  a  time  in  use. 

Somehow,  he  never  developed  into  what  is 
known  as  a  very  popular  officer.  His  manners 
were  excellent,  as  I  have  said  before,  but  he  was 
neither  a  brilliant  soldier  nor  a  brilliant  wit.  Like 
his  father  had  been  before  him,  he  was  exceedingly 
good  to  look  upon,  blessed  with  indomitable  pride, 
but  it  was  that  kind  of  pride  which  helps  instead 
of  hinders  a  man ;  indeed,  I  think  it  was  more  his 
pride  that  earned  for  him  his  name  of  "  Godfrey 
the  Magnificent"  than  any  other  quality  that  he 
possessed.  By  his  great  size  he  was  cut  off"  from 
any  wonderful  exploits  in  the  way  of  hunting  or 
riding.  There  was  nothing  whatever  of  the  devil- 
may-care  about  him ;  he  was  not  reckless,  because 
he  took  no  pleasure  in  being  so ;  he  was  not  ex- 
travagant, because  he  thought  it  was  caddish  to 
waste  money  or  to  make  an  unnecessary  show. 
He  was  quite  the  richest  man  in  the  regiment,  but 


GODFREY  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  $f 

he  regulated  all  his  subscriptions  and  other  ex- 
penses strictly  by  the  examples  of  his  equals, — 
that  is  to  say.  of  the  other  subalterns.  He  was 
always  ready  with  a  subscription  when  it  was 
wanted,  but  he  was  never  one  of  the  first  to  plank 
down  his  guineas.  Now  the  Black  Horse  was  not 
a  particularly  affluent  regiment,  and  a  good  many 
of  the  officers  would  have  felt  themselves  bitterly 
aggrieved — and  justly  so — if  this  new-comer  had 
regulated  his  spendings  in  accordance  with  his  in- 
come rather  than  in  accordance  with  his  position 
among  them.  So  from  first  to  last  Godfrey  Bla- 
densbrook  was  well  liked.  Everybody  had  a  good 
word  for  him,  although  he  had  neither  the  dash 
nor  the  charm  of  manner  which  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  what  is  called  a  very  popular 
officer. 

As  he  had  predicted  to  Margot,  a  year  went  by 
before  he  was  seen  at  Bladensbrook  again.  He 
had  several  times  had  a  few  days'  leave,  but  he 
had  always  spent  them  elsewhere.  When,  how- 
ever, the  leave  season  came  round  again,  and  he 
was  free  to  call  his  time  his  own  for  fifty-six  days, 
he  naturally  turned  his  thoughts  and  his  eyes 
homewards.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  very  much 
excited  at  the  home-coming  of  her  soldier  son. 
"  I  am  asking,"  she  wrote  to  him  just  before  he 
left  Colchester,  "  some  very  nice  people  to  come 
for  Christmas,  and  you  might  care  to  ask  some  of 
your  brother  officers  to  come  to  us  then.  The 
hunting  at  present  is  excellent,  and  Barker  tells 
me  that  the  shooting  has  never  been  so  good.  I 


58  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

have  just  been  having  the  billiard-table  done  up, 
and  think  you  will  be  exceedingly  pleased  with 
the  result.  I  have  also  had  a  high  seat  put  the 
whole  length  of  the  billiard-room.  It  is  a  great 
improvement,  and  a  feature  which  it  sadly  lacked 
in  the  old  times.  I  remember  your  poor  father, 
only  a  week  or  two  before  his  death,  saying  that 
he  would  have  it  done.  But  somehow,  when  there 
is  only  a  woman  and  no  man  in  the  house,  these 
things  slide  on  from  day  to  day  and  get  sadly 
neglected.  However,  it  is  done  now,  my  dear  boy, 
and  I  hope  very  much  that  you  will  approve  of  it 
when  you  have  time  to  see  it."  In  truth,  Godfrey 
did  not  care  anything  about  the  billiard-table.  He 
had  always  regarded  that  particular  luxury  at  Bla- 
densbrook  as  being  as  good  as  any  reasonable 
man  could  wish  for,  and  he  closed  the  letter  with 
a  very  different  idea  in  his  mind  to  all  the  little 
plans  which  his  mother  had  laid  out  for  him.  "  I 
wonder  why  she  never  mentioned  Margot,"  his 
thoughts  ran  as  he  laid  the  letter  back  on  his  table. 
However,  as  there  was  little  chance  of  his  hearing 
from  his  mother  again  before  his  return  home,  he 
did  not  allude  to  the  subject  in  the  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  her  informing  her  of  the  hour  of  his  ar- 
rival, and  when  he  reached  home  and  found  some 
eight  or  ten  guests  gathered  in  the  wonderful  old 
hall  enjoying  the  delights  of  afternoon  tea,  he  had 
no  opportunity  of  asking  any  question  about  the 
family  at  the  Rectory. 

It  was  not  until  he  went  into  the  drawing-room 
just  before  dinner  that  the  Dangerfields  were  even 


GODFREY  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  $9 

mentioned.  He  found  his  mother  there  before  him, 
looking  very  stately  and  distinguished  in  a  rich 
black  velvet  gown,  with  a  quantity  of  wonderful 
old  yellowish  lace  and  a  few  fine  diamonds,  talking 
to  a  tall,  aesthetic-looking  clergyman  whom  he  had 
never  seen  before.  "  This  is  my  son,  Mr.  Morris," 
she  said,  indicating  Godfrey  with  a  gesture.  "  God- 
frey, this  is  Mr.  Morris.  He  has  taken  duty  at  the 
Rectory  for  a  time." 

"  Really  ?  I  am  very  pleased  to  meet  you," 
holding  out  his  hand ;  "  but  where  is  the  Rector, 
Mother  ?" 

"  Oh,  the  Rector  has  gone  abroad,  dear." 

"  Gone  abroad  !"  echoed  Godfrey. 

"Yes.  He  and  Margot  were  away  for  six 
months,  and  came  back  in  the  summer.  As  soon 
as  autumn  set  in,  Mr.  Dangerfield's  lungs  gave 
way,  and  he  was  ordered  off  to  the  south  of 
France,  really  to  save  his  life." 

"  You  don't  say  so  ?  Oh,  I  am  sorry,"  said 
Godfrey,  in  a  tone  of  genuine  concern.  "And 
where  have  they  gone  ?" 

"  Oh,  they  went  to Mr.  Morris,  where  are 

they  ?" 

"They  are  at  San  Remo  just  now.  I  had  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Dangerfield  this  morning,"  the 
clergyman  replied. 

"  And  you  like  Bladensbrook,  Sir  ?"  said  God- 
frey, in  his  pleasant,  smooth  accents. 

"  Oh,  I  think  it  is  an  ideal  place — an  ideal  vil- 
lage. I  don't  wonder  that  Mr.  Dangerfield  was  so 
unwilling  to  go  away  as  he  was.  They  were  both 


6O  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

unwilling.  I  came  down  a  week  or  so  before  they 
left — Mr.  Dangerfield  and  his  daughter,  you  know 
— and  really  I  was  quite  sorry  for  them  both.  They 
seemed  to  dislike  the  idea  of  going  away  again  so 
much.  But  the  doctors  were  most  insistent,  more 
particularly  Sir  Fergus  Tiffany,  whom  he  consulted 
in  town.  In  fact,  he  wrote  to  him  from  the  Rectory 
after  I  arrived  and  asked  him  if  he  arranged  to  have 
no  clerical  duty  whatever  whether  he  could  not 
remain  at  home.  Sir  Fergus  Tiffany  wrote  back 
saying  that  if  he  remained  at  home  he  would  do 
so  at  his  own  risk,  and  that  he  had  told  him  plainly 
and  distinctly  that  it  would  cost  him  his  life.  And 
so,  of  course,"  Mr.  Morris  ended,  "they  had  to 

g°-" 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes,  of  course,"  said  Godfrey.  "  Then 
it  was  his  lungs  ?" 

"  Yes,  his  lungs,  and  something  wrong  with  his 
throat,  too,  and  general  weakness,  you  know.  Of 
course,  the  Rector  is  not  a  young  man,  and  in  my 
opinion  he  stuck  too  closely  to  that  architectural 
book  of  his." 

"  I  think  so,  too,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "  I 
told  him  so  a  dozen  times  at  least  during  this  sum- 
mer. Whenever  I  met  Margot,  whenever  Margot 
came  here,  whenever  I  called  upon  her,  she  always 
said  the  same  thing,  '  Oh,  my  father  is  hard  at 
work  on  his  book.'  " 

"  Ah,  it  is  a  great  pity  he  is  such  an  enthusiast," 
said  Godfrey,  then  turned  as  the  door  opened  and 
others  of  the  house  party  came  into  the  room. 

He  was  intensely  disappointed.     He  had  been 


GODFREY   THE  MAGNIFICENT.  6 1 

looking  forward  so  long  to  seeing  Margot  during 
this  visit.  It  was  by  way  of  a  shock  to  him  to  find 
that  they  were  gone  off  on  their  travels  again  when 
he  had  believed  them  to  be  safe  and  snug  at  Bla- 
densbrook  Rectory.  He  thought  that  Margot 
might  have  let  him  know,  and  yet,  of  course,  it 
was  true  that  Margot  had  never  corresponded  with 
him ;  it  is  true  that  he  had  never  asked  her  to  do  so, 
for  he  had  felt  that  while  it  would  be  delightful,  it 
would  scarcely  be  fair  to  so  young  a  girl. 

"  I  suppose,"  he  said  to  his  mother  the  last  thing 
that  evening,  "that  Margot  Dangerfield  is  quite 
grown  up  ?" 

"  Oh,  quite  grown  up,  dear,  and  quite  a  beauty." 

"  Is  she  really  ?"  he  said,  with  an  indifferent  air, 
just  as  if  he  had  not  known  that  Margot  Danger- 
field  was  sure  to  have  grown  up  a  beauty. 

"  I  have  written  to  the  boys  to  ask  them  to  spend 
part  of  their  leave  here.  Jim  has  accepted  for  the 
week  after  next,  and  Jack  hopes  to  be  able  to  come 
later  on.  I  fancy  he  is  rather  uncertain  about 
his  leave.  He  may  have  to  go  off  to  Corfu  or 
somewhere,  but  if  he  gets  leave,  of  course  he  is 
coming." 

"  That  is  very  good  of  you,  Mother,"  said  God- 
frey, "  because  you  know  it  is  a  serious  thing  to 
have  to  spend  two  months'  leave  staying  about 
with  strangers.  I  am  glad  you  asked  them.  I  am 
very  fond  of  Jim  and  Jack.  I  like  them  better 
than  any  fellows  I  have  ever  known.  Of  course, 
these  men  I  have  asked  from  the  regiment — very 
good  sort  and  tremendously  nice  fellows,  you  will 
6 


62  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN, 

like  them  awfully — but  they  are  not  to  me  like  old 
Jim  and  Jack,  you  know." 

"  No,  no,  of  course  not,"  said  the  mother,  sooth- 
ingly. "  I,  too,  am  exceedingly  fond  of  them,  and 
of  Margot,  and  of  the  dear  Rector.  I  feel  great 
sympathy  with  the  dear  Rector.  I  don't  think,  you 
know,  Godfrey,  in  spite  of  what  Mrs.  Blake  said, 
that  he  was  wrong  about  that  dear  little  girl.  It 
would  have  been  a  great  slight  on  poor  Mrs.  Dan- 
gerfield — who  was  a  sweet  woman,  a  very  good 
woman,  Godfrey,  without  the  least  trace  of  cant 
about  her,  a  woman  with  a  proper  idea  of  her  own 
position,  a  woman  with  a  suitable  amount  of 
worldliness  for  a  clergyman's  wife  of  position — I 
do  think  it  would  have  been  a  slight  upon  her 
memory  if  he  had  radically  altered  the  child's  up- 
bringing. And  really,  now  that  Margot  is  finished 
and  a  grown-up  young  lady,  she  is  so  delightful, 
she  is  so  dainty,  so  charming,  such  a  little  lady. 
All  the  girls  of  the  present  day  are  not  that.  I 
meet  many  girls  whose  manners  strike  me  as  dis- 
tinctly wanting.  Their  whole  mind  and  their 
whole  time  seem  to  be  taken  up  with  tennis  and 
golfing,  cycling  or  cricketing,  or  something  of  that 
kind.  I  am  glad  that  little  Margot  is  not  like  that; 
and  really,  although  I  miss  her  and  the  dear  Rec- 
tor very  much,  in  spite  of  my  liking  Mr.  Morris, 
who  is  quite  charming,  I  do  think  it  is  a  good 
thing  for  Margot  to  be  about  in  the  world  a  little. 
A  girl  gets  such  a  polish  if  she  has  had  a  sem 
sible  up-bringing  among  socially  good  people.  A 
few  months  in  a  French  town  seem  to  do  won- 


MARGOT'S  DUENNA.  63 

ders  for  her ;  gives  her  a  chic,  you  know,  that  noth- 
ing else  in  the  world  is  able  to  do." 

"  You  are  very  fond  of  Margot  ?"  said  Godfrey, 
in  a  questioning  tone. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

MARGOT'S  DUENNA. 

NOT  a  little  to  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's  surprise, 
his  mother  definitely  decided  not  to  go  abroad  for 
any  portion  of  that  winter.  They  had  several  large 
house  parties  during  the  first  half  of  his  long  leave, 
and  Godfrey  suggested  to  his  mother  that  if  she 
was  going  abroad  he  would  just  as  soon  go  with 
her.  She  had  spent  a  good  many  winters  out  of 
England,  and  for  many  years  had  not  spent  one  in 
it,  so  that  he  was  greatly  astonished  when  she  told 
him  that  she  had  quite  made  up  her  mind  not  to 
go  abroad  at  all.  "  But  why  not  ?"  he  said. 

"  Well,  I  feel  better  and  stronger  than  I  have 
done  for  a  long  time,"  she  replied ;  "  and  you 
know,  my  dear  boy,  I  never  think  that  there  is  any 
place  in  the  world  to  equal  Bladensbrook.  I  am 
never  so  happy  anywhere  else  as  I  am  here,  and 
your  long  leave  has  been  such  a  pleasure  to  me 
that  I  don't  want  to  lose  a  day  of  it.  Being  abroad 
with  you  would  be  quite  a  different  thing :  it  would 
be  cut  off  from  all  the  associations  of  home,  and  I 
should  not  enjoy  it  at  all." 


64  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  But  when  my  leave  is  over,"  said  he,  "  you  will 
be  left  here  alone,  and  that  would  be  wretched  for 
you.  Why  not  let  me  go  out  with  you  to  some 
of  those  foreign  places  and  spend  the  last  week 
or  so  ?" 

"  No,  my  dear  Godfrey,  not  this  year — not  this 
year.  I  shall  go  down  to  Bournemouth  if  I  feel 
the  need  of  a  change." 

"  Why  Bournemouth  ?"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Well,  for  one  thing,  it  is  not  such  a  long  jour- 
ney, and  for  another  thing,  Sophia  is  down  there 
with  her  girl.  Vivienne  is  very  delicate  this  win- 
ter, and  the  doctor  insisted  upon  Bournemouth. 
Sophia  is  very  anxious  I  should  go  down  and  be 
with  her,  and  I  think  I  should  enjoy  it  for  a  time. 
But  I  shall  not  go  until  you  have  gone  back;  I 
told  Sophia  that  distinctly." 

Sophia  was  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  sister,  another 
of  Lord  Pollington's  daughters,  but,  unlike  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  the  mother  of  seven  stalwart  sons 
and  one  remarkably  delicate  daughter. 

"  I  have  not  seen  Vivienne  for  years,"  said  God- 
frey, finding  that  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
said  on  the  subject  of  a  foreign  resort.  "  What  sort 
of  a  looking  girl  is  she  ?" 

"  Vivienne  ?  Oh,  she  is  good-looking  enough 
— a  nice  girl  enough,  and  your  Aunt  Sophia  is  quite 
wrapped  up  in  her — foolishly  so,  I  think.  She 
takes  fright  at  the  slightest  ailment,  and  from  what 
she  says  this  is  not  a  small  ailment — indeed,  to  me 
it  sounds  remarkably  like  consumption." 

"  Poor  Aunt  Sophia !"  said  Godfrey,  pityingly. 


MARGOT'S  DUENNA.  65 

So  his  leave  went  over.  He  had  news  of  Mar- 
got  from  Jim  and  Jack,  who  both  came  in  turn  to 
enjoy  the  hospitality  of  Bladensbrook,  but  he  did 
not  see  her,  nor  did  he  hear  from  her  directly. 
He  went  down  to  the  wood — well,  overcome  by  a 
certain  sense  of  sentimentality,  and  sat  on  the  tree 
where  they  had  been  used  to  sit  together ;  but  the 
charm  was  gone ;  the  wood  without  Margot  was 
nothing  more  than  a  wood, — it  was  no  longer  a 
paradise.  The  tree  was  damp  and  the  ground  was 
sodden,  and  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  shivered  and 
came  home  again.  After  all,  it  is  the  Eve  which 
makes  the  Paradise,  not  the  scenic  setting. 

He  met  her  again  at  Easter,  when  he  had  a  few 
days'  leave,  which  he  spent  with  his  mother,  but 
their  chances  of  meeting  alone  were  not  many,  and 
on  those  nights  when  the  father  and  daughter  dined 
at  Bladensbrook  she  was  not,  in  the  natural  course 
of  events,  placed  very  near  to  the  young  host. 
There  were  too  many  men  staying  in  the  house 
for  a  meeting  in  the  wood  to  be  possible,  and 
though  Godfrey  went  down  and  called  at  the  Rec- 
tory he  did  not  find  Margot  alone.  For  her  sins, 
as  she  herself  said,  her  Aunt  Marcia  was  paying 
her  brother  a  visit,  and  Aunt  Marcia,  having  no 
opinion  of  young  ladies  who  lived  without  a  shred 
of  a  chaperon  in  the  household,  remained  on  guard 
with  an  amount  of  vigilance  and  suspicion  worthy 
of  a  Spanish  duenna  of  the  olden  time.  Godfrey 
was  very  polite ;  told  her  that  he  liked  being  in  the 
army  very  much,  and  that  he  should  be  home 
again  for  his  coming  of  age  in  the  early  autumn. 

e  6* 


66  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Aunt  Marcia  laid  considerable  stress  upon  the 
duties  of  his  position,  and  Godfrey  told  her  with 
an  air  that  she  forgot  the  excellent  queen  regent 
who  remained  behind  when  he  was  away. 

"  I  often  think,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  which  con- 
veyed that  the  discussion  need  not  continue  much 
longer,  "  I  often  think  how  extraordinarily  lucky 
I  have  been  in  my  mother.  You  see,  Mrs.  Blake, 
my  father  died  when  I  was  so  very  young,  and  if 
I  had  had  a  weak  mother  or  a  foolish  mother,  it 
would  have  made  all  the  difference  to  me ;  but  she 
is  so  wise,  and  she  has  the  instinct  of  rule  so  strong 
in  her,  that  the  longer  I  leave  the  major  portion 
of  the  dominance  in  her  hands  the  better  it  will  be 
for  everybody  concerned." 

"  Then  you  don't  intend  to  give  up  the  army 
when  you  are  of  age  ?"  said  Mrs.  Blake. 

"  I  have  no  such  intention  at  present,"  said  God- 
frey. "  It  would  hardly  have  been  worth  going 
into  the  Service  for  two  years." 

"Well,"  said  Aunt  Marcia,  folding  her  hands 
and  looking  at  him  sideways,  "  I  must  say  that  I 
think  a  young  man's  place  is  at  home." 

"  At  that  rate,"  said  Godfrey,  "  the  world  would 
stand  still." 

"  Ah,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  as  in  the  case  of  my 
brother's  boys,  it  is  different ;  but  where  a  young 
man  is  the  owner  of  a  large  estate,  his  first  duty  is 
towards  those  who  look  to  him  to  be  their  leader." 

"  Very  possibly  you  are  right,"  said  Godfrey ; 
"  but  I  must  confess  that  at  present  I  do  not  see 
the  full  force  of  what  you  say." 


MARGOT'S  DUENNA.  6? 

He  tried  then  to  talk  to  Margot  a  little;  he 
tried,  too,  to  draw  her  out  of  that  stuffy  and  un- 
comfortable room,  but  it  was  no  good.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  enquire  after  Mrs.  Isaacs,  only  to 
be  told  that  that  porcine  lady  had  passed  beyond 
the  bourne  several  years  before.  Godfrey  knew  it 
well  enough,  having,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  been  pres- 
ent at  her  obsequies.  He  thought  that  Margot 
would  have  the  nous  to  take  the  cue  from  him  and 
leave  out  the  name  of  the  present  lady  in  posses- 
sion of  the  pig-sty ;  but  Margot  knew  too  well  what 
an  avalanche  of  reproach  such  conduct  would  have 
brought  down  upon  her  devoted  head.  An  out- 
sider might  have  imagined  that  a  lady  who  came 
so  seldom  to  the  Rectory  would  not  have  known 
the  exact  details  of  the  domestic  animal  portion  of 
the  establishment ;  but  Aunt  Marcia  was  blessed 
— afflicted,  her  nephews  and  niece  said — with  a 
memory  which  was,  to  all  practical  intents  and 
purposes,  a  disease,  and  the  history  of  Mrs.  Isaacs 
was  painfully  well  known  to  her.  Then  Godfrey 
enquired  after  the  donkey,  to  be  told  that  it  had 
been  lent  in  its  old  age  to  an  invalid  child  some 
miles  away,  one  of  those  poor  little  twisted  crea- 
tures who  use  sofa  carriages  and  never  go  faster 
than  a  foot's  pace  even  in  such  an  one.  Then  he 
asked  how  the  pony  was.  He  had  never  before 
taken  any  interest  in  the  pony,  because  it  was  one 
which  the  Rector  used  for  parishing  and  light  sta- 
tion work,  when,  indeed,  he  hadn't  need  to  use  the 
larger  carriage  and  the  horse. 

"  Ah,  you  are  thinking  of  poor  dear  Topsy,"  said 


68  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Margot.  "  Alas,  Godfrey,  she  is  dead.  She  died 
the  last  time  we  were  abroad.  It  was  such  a 
trouble  to  us,  so  much  so  that  we  have  not  yet 
replaced  her,  though  Father  does  say  that  he 
means  to  do  so." 

Then  Godfrey's  ingenuity  gave  out,  and,  after 
enduring  a  little  more  of  Aunt  Marcia's  ponder- 
ous remarks,  he  got  up  to  take  his  leave. 

"  I  will  come  down  to  the  gate  with  you,"  said 
Margot,  making  a  desperate  effort  to  shake  herself 
free  of  the  shackles  of  Aunt  Marcia. 

"Yes,  it  is  a  lovely  evening,"  said  the  lady, 
glancing  out  at  the  window,  "  and  really,  for  the 
time  of  year,  wonderful  weather."  As  she  spoke, 
she  picked  up  an  atrocious  cape  of  some  dark 
wool  work  and  wrapped  it  about  her  ample  shoul- 
ders. 

Godfrey  groaned  as  he  opened  the  door  for  the 
two  ladies  to  pass  out  through  the  conservatory. 
Margot  cast  a  significant  glance  at  him.  "  You 
see,  it  is  no  use,"  her  eyes  said,  and  so  five  minutes 
later  at  the  gate  they  took  their  leave. 

"  Do  you  think,  Mother,"  said  Godfrey,  later  in 
the  evening,  when  he  and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  were 
sitting  over  dessert  and  the  servants  had  left  the 
room,  "  do  you  think  that  Mrs.  Blake  is  likely  to 
come  in  September  ?" 

"  What,  for  the  festivities,  dear  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  I  don't  know,  I  am  sure.  She  does  seem  to 
come  to  the  Rectory  a  good  deal  since  Mr.  Blake 
died." 


MARGOT'S  DUENNA.  69 

"  Does  she  ?     She  is  a  horrid  nuisance." 

"  Oh  !     Why,  do  you  find  her  so  ?" 

"  Oh,  she  is  so  interfering  and  so  officious,  and 
so  blatant  in  giving  her  advice.  I  hate  people 
who  give  their  advice  gratuitously  on  every  sub- 
ject." 

"  They  are  tedious,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
delicately  dipping  an  early  strawberry  into  the 
little  heap  of  powdered  sugar  on  her  plate.  "  She 
once  tried  it  with  me.  I  didn't  encourage  her  in 
the  habit." 

Godfrey  looked  down  the  table  at  his  mother 
with  a  glance  of  excessive  admiration.  "  By  Jove, 
but  I  do  admire  you,  Mother !"  he  burst  out. 
"  You  have  the  splendid  power  of  being  able  to 
put  people  back  in  their  places  without  offending 
them.  A  man  can't  do  that." 

"  Particularly  a  young  man,"  interposed  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook. 

"  Particularly  a  young  man,"  Godfrey  agreed. 
"  Now,  to-day,  I  went  down  and  called — upon 
Margot,  of  course,  and  the  result  was  a  prolonged 
conversation  with  Aunt  Marcia,  whom  I  didn't 
want  to  see,  and  should  not  mind  if  I  never  saw. 
again.  She  chose  to  read  me  a  homily  on  the 
duties  of  my  position." 

"  Extremely  impertinent  of  her,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook, stiffening  all  over  with  a  curious  wave 
of  pride. 

"  Yes ;  she  told  me  that  when  I  was  of  age  I 
ought  to  leave  the  Service  and  settle  down  at 


70  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  What  did  she  mean  by  settling  down  ?" 

"  Oh,  do  my  duty  to  my  tenants,  and  so  on." 

"  Indeed  !     And  what  did  you  say  ?" 

"  Well,  I  expatiated  on  my  good  fortune  in  hav- 
ing such  a  regent  as  yourself,  and  we  changed  the 
conversation." 

"  I  don't  think,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  smiling, 
and  holding  her  white  jewelled  hands  together  by 
the  tips  of  the  fingers,  "  I  don't  think  that  you  need 
envy  me  any  gift  of  mine,  Godfrey." 

"  Oh,  I  was  very  polite,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Yes ;  but  you  probably  made  Aunt  Marcia  feel 
sorry  she  had  spoken." 

"I  don't  think  so,"  said  Godfrey,  quickly;  "I 
really  don't  think  so.  Most  officious  woman  I 
call  her.  I  do  hope  she  won't  come  down  in  Sep- 
tember." 

"  We  will  try  to  avoid  it,"  said  the  mistress  of 
Bladensbrook,  quietly. 

So  Godfrey  went  back  to  his  regiment  comforted 
by  the  thought  that,  even  in  the  bustle  and  stir 
which  would  naturally  be  occasioned  by  his 
coming  of  age,  he  would  be  able  to  see  some- 
thing of  Margot.  But  for  once  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook proved  to  be  wrong  in  her  calculations. 
She  was  a  very  great  and  puissant  lady,  and  her 
will  was  practically  law  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Bladensbrook,  but  with  all  her  powers  she  could 
not  positively  dictate  to  the  Rector  whether  he 
should  have  guests  at  the  Rectory  or  not.  She 
made  an  effort — oh,  yes,  trust  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
for  that. 


MARGOT'S  DUENNA.  Jl 

"  Dear  Rector,"  she  said  to  him  about  a  month 
before  Godfrey's  birthday,  "  I  want  you  to  do  me 
a  favour." 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  the  Rector, 
in  a  tone  which  implied  that  the  favour  was  already 
hers. 

"  Well,  you  see  we  are  having  a  large  house 
party  for  Godfrey's  coming  of  age." 

"  Naturally — naturally,"  said  the  good  parson. 

"  And  I  want  to  ask  several  more  people  than 
we  have  sleeping  accommodation  for.  I  have 
taken  all  the  rooms  at  the  inn — for  servants,  you 
know,  and  bachelors." 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  the  Rector, 
genially,  "  whatever  sleeping  accommodation,  there 
is  at  the  Rectory,  you  are  most  welcome  to.  I  need 
hardly  tell  you  that.  Let  me  see  :  I  suppose  Jim 
will  be  coming  home  for  the  week.  I  think  Godfrey 
told  me  something  about  his  having  asked  him 
already ;  but  there's  Jack's  bedroom — and  the  blue 
room — and  the  pink  room — that  is  three — and  the 
little  green  room — four  bedrooms  certainly,  and  to 
them  you  are  most  welcome.  I  am  afraid  the 
Indian  room  I  shall  not  be  able  to  give  up,  as  my 
sister,  you  know " 

"Mrs.  Blake?"  interposed  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
trying  not  to  betray  the  agony  which  she  felt. 

"  Yes.  She  particularly  wished  to  be  here  at 
that  time,  and,  poor  thing,  being  a  widow,  I  never 
like  to  say  nay." 

"  Of  course  not,  of  course  not,"  returned  the 
lady  of  the  soil,  promptly. 


72  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

She  wrote  to  Godfrey  that  evening,  "  No  use, 
my  dear  boy,"  she  said ;  "  she  is  coming  /" 

"  I  knew  it !"  exclaimed  Godfrey,  in  a  tone  of 
extremest  disgust  as  he  read  the  letter. 


,       CHAPTER  VIII. 

A   DEFINITE   UNDERSTANDING. 

HE  did,  however,  contrive  to  see  something 
of  Margot  during  the  festivities.  The  Rector's 
daughter  is  naturally  on  pretty  close  terms  with 
the  young  squire,  and  in  what  you  may  call  parish 
festivities  she  is  usually  more  in  evidence  than  the 
average  young  lady.  They  practically  spent  the 
week  at  Bladensbrook.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  filled 
up  the  Rectory  bedrooms,  and  professed  herself 
under  great  obligations  for  the  use  thereof;  and 
breakfast  at  the  Rectory  became  quite  an  important 
function  ;  but  during  the  rest  of  the  day  the  charm- 
ing old  house  was  practically  deserted,  and  it  must 
be  confessed  that  Margot  enjoyed  herself  very 
much.  She  danced  several  times  with  Godfrey 
during  the  coming-of-age  dance — the  dance  with 
the  "  quality,"  that  is — and  on  the  following  days 
she  had  fine  times  at  the  various  entertainments. 
There  was  the  tenants'  dinner  and  the  tenants'  ball, 
then  the  ball  for  the  servants,  then  the  dinner  to 
the  labourers  and  their  wives  and  children,  the 


A  DEFINITE   UNDERSTANDING.  73 

Sunday-school  feasts,  and  the  tea  to  the  old  people 
in  the  various  almshouses,  which  was  shared  by 
the  inmates  of  the  workhouse  a  mile  away.  Mar- 
got  was  very  busy  and  very  happy,  and  Mrs. 
Blake's  self-imposed  duties  as  chaperon  became 
too  onerous  to  attempt  to  carry  out  in  their  en- 
tirety ;  but  of  private  intercourse  the  young  couple 
had  very  little,  and  the  little  there  was  was  stolen ; 
and  perhaps  it  was  all  the  sweeter  on  that  account. 
Only  once  did  they  manage  to  meet  at  their  old 
trysting-place  in  the  wood.  It  was  an  affair  which 
was  conducted  with  much  diplomacy  and  with  a 
great  amount  of  strategy,  for  Godfrey,  being  the 
hero  of  the  hour,  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  get- 
ting a  single  moment  to  himself,  while  on  her  side 
Margot  had  to  satisfy  Aunt  Marcia  as  to  her  do- 
ings from  morning  till  night.  Fortune  favoured 
them,  however.  The  Rector,  in  obedience  to  a 
hint  from  his  daughter,  although  quite  unconscious 
of  having  received  anything  of  the  kind,  insisted 
upon  Aunt  Marcia's  accompanying  him  for  a  drive 
into  the  neighbouring  town. 

"  I  would  far  rather  stay  at  home  quietly  in  the 
garden,"  said  Aunt  Marcia,  when  the  Rector  put 
the  proposal  before  her. 

"  My  dear  Marcia,"  said  the  Rector,  "  I  really 
need  your  advice  and  help." 

"  Take  Margot/'  said  Mrs.  Blake. 

"  My  dear  Marcia,"  said  the  Rector,  "  Margot 
would  be  no  use  to  me  whatever.  I  particularly 
want  you  to  come." 

So,  perforce,  Aunt  Marcia  had  no  choice  but  to 


74  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

acquiesce.  "  Of  course,  you  are  going  with  us, 
Margot,"  she  remarked,  when  she  came  down- 
stairs equipped  for  the  drive. 

"  No,  Auntie ;  not  to-day,"  said  Margot,  very 
cheerfully. 

"  But  what  will  you  do  ?" 

"I?  Oh,  I  shall  be  all  right.  You  forget  that 
I  am  at  home  to-day,  so  I  could  not  possibly 
go." 

"  But  you  would  have  done  had  it  not  been  for 
me." 

"  I  doubt  it,"  said  Margot ;  "  anyway,  I  am  not 
going." 

"  But  there  is  plenty  of  room,"  said  Mrs.  Blake. 

"  Yes,  Auntie,  there  is  plenty  of  room ;  but  I  am 
not  going.  Two  is  company,  you  know ;  and  you 
and  Dad  will  get  on  very  well  without  me." 

"  I  don't  quite  like  it,"  said  Aunt  Marcia. 

"  Can't  help  that,"  returned  Margot.  "  I  am 
not  very  particular,  but  I  do  object  to  the  back 
seat  in  the  Stanhope.  It  is  the  most  tiresome 

thing  in  the  world,  and  on  a  dusty  day  like  this 

Oh,  no,  Aunt  Marcia ;  very  kind  of  you  to  want 
me,  but  I  much  prefer  staying  at  home." 

"  Come,  my  dear,"  said  the  Rector  from  the 
door ;  "  come,  Marcia,  my  dear." 

So  Aunt  Marcia  had  no  choice  but  to  go,  and 
Margot,  having  seen  them  turn  the  corner  of  the 
road  towards  their  destination,  went  gaily  indoors 
with  a  hop  and  a  skip,  and  rushed  off  to  her 
room  to  put  on  her  hat.  She  did  not  generally  go 
up-stairs  to  dress  before  going  out  in  the  village  or 


A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING.  ?$ 

thereabouts ;  but  to-day  she  was  going  to  meet 
Godfrey;  and,  although  she  did  not  change  her 
dress,  there  were  various  little  touches  to  give  here 
and  there,  such  as  made  her  look  absolutely  be- 
witching when  she  started  off  in  her  charming 
white  cotton  frock  and  sailor-hat  with  its  white 
ribbon.  She  did  not  go  by  way  of  the  village — • 
oh,  no ;  she  knew  better  than  that.  She  turned 
sharp  to  the  left  on  leaving  the  orchard  gate,  went 
straight  across  the  road  and  over  a  stile  into  a  kind 
of  shrubbery,  then  she  struck  across  the  corner  of 
the  park  and  dived  into  the  woods,  where  she  knew 
Godfrey  would  be  sooner  or  later. 

He  was  not  as  yet  there,  but  Margot  did  not 
mind.  She  sat  down  on  the  old  tree  and  quietly 
waited,  and  very  soon  he  came. 

"  I  thought  I  should  never  get  off,"  he  remarked, 
as  he  sat  down  and  promptly  put  his  arm  round 
her  waist.  "  Margot,  my  dear,  I  am  so  delighted 
to  see  you." 

"  You  have  seen  me  all  the  week,"  said  Margot, 
smiling  at  him. 

"  Yes  ;  I  have  seen  you,  danced  with  you,  talked 
to  you ;  but  that  is  not  like  this.  It  is  only  like 
half  seeing  you.  Oh,  how  tiresome  it  is  to  have 
to  dodge  humanity  at  large." 

"  It  is,"  said  Margot ;  "  I  have  had  to  do  it. 
Aunt  Marcia  was  determined  I  should  go  into  Ex- 
hampton  with  them." 

"  Was  she,  though  ?" 

"  Yes,  she  was  ;  but  I  was  firm." 

"  I  am  glad  you  were  firm,"  said  Godfrey,  hold- 


76  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

ing  her  hand  in  his  and  comparing  the  little,  soft, 
white  member  with  his  own  broad,  brown  palm. 
"  Do  you  remember  the  last  time  we  met  here  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Margot,  blushing  a  little. 

"  Dearest,  it  is  nearly  two  years  since." 

"  Yes,  it  was ;  before  we  went  to  Italy." 

"  Do  you  remember  what  you  told  me  then  ?" 

"  Well — some  of  it." 

"  You  told  me  that  I  was  so  dreadfully  young 
that  I  didn't  know  my  own  mind ;  but,  you  see,  my 
mind  has  not  changed  at  all." 

"  Apparently  not,"  said  Margot. 

"  It  hasn't  changed  one  whit,"  Godfrey  declared, 
stoutly ;  "  not  in  any  little  detail  where  you  are 
concerned.  And  about  yourself,  eh,  Margot  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  at  all  ashamed  of  my  mind," 
said  the  girl,  coquettishly. 

"And  you  have  not  changed,  either?" 

"  I  don't  think  so.  I  don't  feel  like  it — except — 
except " 

"  Yes,  except ?" 

"  Well,"  turning  her  head  away  shyly,  "  perhaps 
I  don't  like  you  quite  the  same  as  I  did  then." 

"  You  don't  ?  How  do  you  mean  ?"  in  a  quick 
access  of  alarm. 

"  Well,"  still  keeping  her  head  turned  half  away, 
"  perhaps  I  like  you  more  than  I  did  then." 

And  then  Godfrey  caught  her  to  him  and  called 
her  a  great  many  endearing  names — his  love,  his 
sweetheart,  his  queen,  his  wife.  "  And  you  don't 
think  I  am  too  young  to  marry  ?"  he  ended. 

"  Oh,  but  I  do !"  cried  Margot.    "  It's  ridiculous, 


A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING.  77 

the  idea  of  your  being  married  yet.  We  are  so 
young.  People  will  laugh  at  us." 

"  Let  them  laugh ;  let  those  who  will,  laugh. 
We  shall  have  won  each  other.  We  can  afford  to 
laugh ;  we  can  afford  to  let  others  laugh." 

"  Oh,  but,  Godfrey,  I  am  sure  you  are  too  young. 
Dear  boy,  let  us  wait  a  little  while  before  we  say 
anything.  Don't  let  us  have  it  all  ragged  over  with 
Aunt  Marcia  here.  She  interferes  so ;  and  she  is 
sure  to  offend  your  mother ;  and  think  what  my 
life  would  be  worth  if  I  offended  your  mother.  It 
would  be  dreadful." 

"  You  forget,"  said  he,  "  that  when  once  you  are 
my  wife,  you  will  be  Mrs.  Bladensbrook." 

"  Yes ;  but  I  shall  always  stand  in  awe  of  your 
mother." 

"  You  will  have  no  need  to  stand  in  awe  of  any- 
body. People  will  stand  in  awe  of  you.  You  don't 
seem  to  realize  that." 

"  No,  I  don't.  I  may  some  day,  when  I  am  used 
to  it ;  but  I  am  not  used  to  it  yet ;  and  I  would 
really  like  to  keep  our  secret  a  little  time ;  yes,  I 
would  indeed,  Godfrey,  particularly  as  long  as 
Aunt  Marcia  is  here." 

"  It  shall  be  exactly  as  you  like,"  said  Godfrey, 
to  whom  the  appeal  about  Aunt  Marcia  was 
stronger  than  any  other  she  could  have  put  for- 
ward. "  Then,  Margot,  we  will  keep  it  to  our- 
selves just  a  little  while,  our  precious,  beautiful 
secret ;  and  you  will  remember,  dear,  that  as  soon 
as  you  wish  to  speak  you  have  only  to  give  me  a 
hint  and  I  will  go  down  and  see  the  Rector  at  once." 
7* 


78  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Yes,  I  will  remember ;  but  you  know,  Godfrey, 
if  you  have  changed  your  mind  by  then,  or  if  you 
have  seen  anybody  else,  you  have  only  to  tell  me. 
You  needn't  consider  yourself  bound,  because  I 
wouldn't  marry  anybody,  not  even  you,  if  I  wasn't 
sure  that  I  was  everything  in  the  world  to  him. 
I  am  very  proud,  you  know,  Godfrey." 

"  I  know  you  are.  I  love  you  the  better  for  it ; 
but  I  shall  not  change.  The  Bladensbrooks  do 
not  change,  Margot;  it  isn't  a  family  failing  of  ours. 
You  have  never  known  me  change  since  we  were 
little  children  together;  you  have  never  known  my 
mother  change;  you  never  knew — well,  you  didn't 
know  my  father,  but  I  am  told  that  he  was  just 
the  same." 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  change,  Godfrey,"  said 
Margot,  very  softly. 

And  then  he  kissed  her  again — you  know  how 
young  things  do  at  such  times.  If  you  don't,  you 
will  some  day ;  if  you  are  beyond  that  and  have 
never  known,  well,  I  am  sorry  for  you,  that's  all. 
And  so  Godfrey  left  matters  when  he  returned 
once  more  to  his  regiment.  He  carried  with  him 
Margot's  latest  photograph,  a  twist  of  her  brilliant 
hair,  an  indelible  impression  of  her  radiant  eyes, 
and  the  equally  indelible  impression  of  her  kisses 
upon  his  lips. 

By  that  time  the  regiment  had  been  moved  from 
Aldershot  to  Blankhampton,  in  which  place  God- 
frey Bladensbrook  found  himself  the  object  of 
much  solicitous  attention.  He  thought  that  he 
had  never  seen  so  many  mothers  and  daughters  in 


A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING.  79 

one  community  before,  and  our  old  friend,  Lady 
Vivian,  with  her  seven  stalwart  sons  and  her 
daughterless  heart,  came  to  him  as  a  sort  of  de- 
lightful refreshment.  "  And  have  you  no  daugh- 
ters, Lady  Vivian  ?"  he  asked  her  when  he  had 
been  talking  to  her  for  the  first  time. 

"  No,  I  never  had  a  daughter,"  said  she,  half 
regretfully ;  "  it  has  been  the  only  regret  of  my 
life.  Seven  great  big  boys,  seven  such  dear  boys, 
Mr.  Bladensbrook,  but  never  a  girl.  I  often  think 
that  mothers  who  have  no  daughters  never  know 
half  the  joy  of  motherhood." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Godfrey  ;  "  I  never 
had  any  sisters,  and  my  mother  never  seemed  to 
want  any.  I  think  I  should  have  liked  a  sister." 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  my  boys  were  always  wild  to  have  a 
sister.  They  would  have  made  such  a  pet  of  her. 
However,  it  was  not  to  be ;  and  they  are  dear  boys, 
and  good  boys,  and  I  have  to  put  up  with  them." 

But  the  other  mothers  and  daughters  in  Blank- 
hampton !  They  made  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's 
brain  reel.  The  fathers  and  brothers  who  came 
and  called  upon  him,  the  sheaves  of  invitations 
which  were  showered  upon  him,  the  tempting 
little  baits  which  were  held  out  for  his  delectation 
— they  were  as  numberless  as  the  hairs  of  one's 
head  or  the  sands  of  the  sea.  Yes,  and  I  speak 
advisedly,  for  at  last  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  lost 
count,  and  more  than  one  Blankhampton  matron 
remarked  to  one  or  other  of  his  brother  officers 
"  that  it  was  a  pity  Mr.  Bladensbrook  gave  himself 
such  airs !" 


80  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  lady,"  said  St.  George  one  day  to 
the  mother  of  Tina  Mornington-Brovvn,  "  I  assure 
you  a  greater  mistake  was  never  made.  Bladens- 
brook  is  the  simplest,  easiest,  most  unassuming 
fellow  that  we  have  ever  had  in  the  regiment. 
The  whole  of  us  are  agreed  upon  that  point.  In 
spite  of  his  enormous  wealth,  he  never  shows  it  in 
any  way,  or  presumes  on  it,  or  anything  of  the 
kind.  Really,  you  must  be  thinking  of  somebody 
else.  Bladensbrook  is  quite  ridiculously  unas- 
suming." 

"  I  mean  Mr.  Bladensbrook"  said  the  lady,  rather 
stiffly.  "  I  asked  him  to  afternoon  tea  yesterday, 
but  he  neither  answered  nor  came." 

"  Didn't  he  ?  Oh,  well,  it  must  have  been  some 
mistake,  because  he  isn't  at  all  the  kind  of  man  to 
do  anything  like  that ;  that  isn't  his  form,  I  assure 
you ;  but,  really,  he  has  had  so  many  invitations. 
You  see,  he  is  so  rich,  Mrs.  Brown." 

Mrs.  Mornington-Brown  stiffened.  She  was  a 
pathetic-looking  lady,  very  fragile  and  delicate, 
with  a  curious  shadow  of  beauty  about  her,  of 
beauty  which,  by  the  bye,  had  never  existed.  Her 
first  impulse  was  to  disclaim  any  idea  of  having 
invited  Mr.  Bladensbrook  to  tea  because  he  was 
enormously  rich ;  but  on  second  thoughts  she  bit 
off  the  reply,  feeling  that  it  would  be  an  unwise 
one,  and  said,  in  a  much  milder  tone,  "  Ah,  well, 
perhaps  my  note  miscarried;  but  I  was  disappointed 
that  he  did  not  come.  I  had  some  quite  wonder- 
ful skirt  dancing." 

Yes,  they  had  got  skirt  dancers  in  Blankhamp- 


A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING.  8 1 

ton.  Two  mature  ladies  of  massive  proportions 
who  wore  Spanish  costumes  and  what  they  were 
pleased  to  call  "  make-up."  Their  performances 
excited  a  great  deal  of  interest,  as  indeed  they 
were  likely  to  do,  but  they  would  not  have  brought 
them  name  and  fame  in  London.  But  they  had 
caught  on  in  Blankhampton,  and  there  was  quite 
a  competition  to  secure  them  for  diverse  forms  of 
entertainments.  They  were  in  great  request  for 
afternoon  teas,  evening  parties  and  village  con- 
certs,— especially  village  concerts, — and  Mrs. 
Mornington-Brown  thought  that  she  had  been 
quite  fortunate  in  having  secured  them  for  the 
previous  day. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that 
Godfrey  held  himself  at  all  aloof  from  those  who 
entertained  in  the  old  city;  nothing  of  the  kind. 
Although  his  heart  was  filled  with  the  image  of 
Margot,  there  was  nothing  whatever  of  the  churl 
about  him.  He  occasionally  lost  count,  but  he 
went  out  a  great  deal,  and  he  also  entertained  a 
good  deal  in  return.  It  may  be  said  that  he  was 
the  first  Army  man  on  record  who  utilized  the 
good  Bonner's  tea-rooms  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
pleasant  little  tea-fights  entirely  on  his  own 
account.  By  these  means  he  made  his  peace 
with  the  mother  of  Tina.  It  is  wonderful  how  a 
fancied  slight  is  smoothed  away  by  an  equally 
small  attention.  Somehow,  we  think  less  of  the 
attentions  than  we  do  of  the  slights.  It  is  so  all 
the  world  over.  We  are  quite  careless  about 
going  to  Mrs.  So-and-so's  parties,  and  always  feel 


82  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

that  we  flatter  her  by  going  to  them ;  but  let  the 
lady  give  a  party  without  bidding  us  to  it  and  we 
are  slighted  immediately ;  and  it  is  astonishing  how 
long  such  a  slight  will  rankle  in  our  minds.  Mrs. 
Mornington-Brown  had  been  feeling  very  sore  on 
the  subject  of  Godfrey  Bladensbrook,  but  when 
she  received  an  invitation  to  his  first  little  tea- 
party  at  the  good  Mr.  Bonner's  tea-rooms  she 
promptly  buried  all  resentment  out  of  sight  forever. 
Nay,  she  went  further  than  that  even ;  for  she  won- 
dered a  little  in  her  timid  and  hesitating  mind 
whether  the  invitation  was  the  outcome  of  politeness 
or  whether  it  meant  Tina.  But  Tina,  alas,  was  not 
as  young  as  she  had  been  once.  She  was  getting 
perilously  near  to  that  age  when  a  feminine  crea- 
ture who  has  been  called  a  girl  by  courtesy  for  a 
long  time  suddenly  develops  into  a  woman  of  certain 
age,  and  Mrs.  Mornington-Brown  could  not  shut  her 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  was 
still  very  young.  Tina  was,  in  fact,  old  enough  to 
be  his  mother.  It  was  borne  in  upon  her  reluc- 
tant mind,  as  she  looked  round  upon  the  girls  of 
the  rising  generation,  that  it  was  useless  to  specu- 
late any  longer  about  Tina's  future.  Tina's 
future  was  fairly  well  assured,  or,  at  least,  settled. 
It  would  be  a  future  with  a  modest  income,  a 
house  shared  with  her  elder  sister;  she  knew 
positively  for  the  first  time  that  Tina  had  overshot 
her  mark,  a  fatal  impediment  to  what  may  be 
called  the  turn-over  of  business.  Poor  Mrs. 
Mornington-Brown !  I  always  think  me  of  such 
with  profoundest  pity.  It  must  be  so  sad  for 


A  DEFINITE  UNDERSTANDING.  83 

a  woman  in  her  declining  years  to  feel  that  the 
time  is  fast  drawing  near  when  she  will  have  to 
leave  the  daughters  she  has  brought  into  the  world 
to  get  on  as  best  they  can  without  her.  There 
must  come  moments  in  such  lives  when  the  chief 
thought  is  a  wild  wish  that  they  had  brought  up 
their  daughters  to  some  other  profession  than  that 
of  marrying.  Everybody  cannot  marry,  and  mar- 
riage is  a  great  lottery  at  best.  One  wonders  why 
some  people  do  not  marry,  but  I  think  one  won- 
ders more  why  some  people  do,  or  at  least  why 
other  people  married  them.  Tina  Mornington- 
Brown  was  pretty  still,  but  her  mother  felt  that 
she  would  be  Tina  Mornington-Brown  always. 

The  Black  Horse  had  been  in  Blankhampton 
for  more  than  twelve  months.  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook  had  spent  part  of  his  long  leave  at  home, 
and  again  Margot  had  put  off  the  ratification  of 
their  engagement  on  the  score  of  their  extreme 
youth.  "  Dear  Godfrey,"  she  said,  "  wait  until 
you  are  three-and-twenty.  As  soon  as  you  like 
after  you  are  three-and-twenty,  but  not  before 
that.  We  are  both  so  preposterously  young." 
He  felt  that  there  was  truth  in  what  she  said,  and 
he  acquiesced  in  hei  wishes,  though  it  must  be 
confessed  not  without  a  good  deal  of  argument. 
Then,  when  his  twenty-third  birthday  was  fast  ap- 
proaching, Margot  wrote  to  him  that  she  was  pay- 
ing a  visit  to  Mrs.  Blake,  who  lived  at  Brixham,  a 
manufacturing  town  about  fifty  miles  from  Blank- 
hampton. "I  am  going  from  here,"  she  said,  "to 
stay  with  some  other  people.  They  are  the 


84  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Merediths  of  Heckmansworth ;  you  are  sure  to 
know  the  name.  I  go  on  the  fourteenth.  I  want 
you  to  come  and  meet  me  on  the  road  and  travel 
a  little  way  with  me — all  the  way,  if  you  like.  I 
shall  be  leaving  this  by  the  train  which  starts  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  I  get  to  Heckmans- 
worth in  time  for  dinner." 

I  need  hardly  say  that  as  he  had  not  seen  her 
for  over  six  months,  and  as  in  the  absence  of  a 
formal  engagement  he  could  not  very  well  take  a 
fifty  miles'  journey  to  call  upon  a  young  lady, 
Godfrey  Bladensbrook  simply  jumped  at  the 
chance  which  was  thus  held  out  to  him  of  a 
couple  of  hours'  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  his 
sweetheart's  presence.  He  asked  for  and  obtained 
a  few  days'  leave,  and  went  off  early  in  the  morn- 
ing to  Marley  Spa,  which  was  the  first  stopping- 
place  on  her  journey.  This  was  a  town  only  some 
five  miles  from  the  town  near  which  she  was  stay- 
ing, and  when  the  Brixham  train  reached  the  little 
station,  there  she  was  in  a  carriage  by  herself, 
looking  radiantly  happy  and  more  lovely  than 
ever. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

AN    UNFORTUNATE    ACCIDENT. 

"ISN'T  it  fun!"  Margot  exclaimed  as  Godfrey 
joined  her.  "  Think  what  all  those  dear  people — 
your  people  and  my  people — and  my  friends  this 
end  and  my  friends  the  other  end ;  think  what  fits 


AN  UNFORTUNATE  ACCIDENT.  85 

they  would  have  if  they  knew  what  we  were  up 
to !  Don't  you  think  I  was  exceedingly  clever, 
to  carry  out  my  idea  ?" 

"  I  always  think  you  exceedingly  clever,"  said 
Godfrey,  holding  her  close  to  him. 

"  Ah,  yes ;  but  I  mean  extra  clever.  I  had  to 
think  it  out,  you  know ;  and  then,  if  it  is  a  little 
out  of  the  way,  Godfrey,  there  is  no  great 
harm  in  it,  is  there  ?  You  see,  we  shall  be  en- 
gaged very  soon  now — well,  we  are  engaged,  of 
course ;  but  what  I  mean  is,  we  shall  be  announced 
to  the  world  as  engaged,  and  then  I  suppose  we 
shall  be  married  quite  soon  ?" 

"  Quite  soon,"  said  Godfrey.  "  Considering  the 
length  of  time  that  I  have  been  kept  waiting,  I 
should  say  it  must  be  quite  soon." 

"  And  after  all,  it's  only  a  couple  of  hours' 
journey,  or  something  like  that ;  but  it's  enough  to 
make  me  feel  desperately  wicked,  anyway." 

"  If  you  never  do  anything  that  is  more 
wicked,"  said  Godfrey,  very  tenderly,  "you  will 
have  a  singularly  clear  conscience  for  the  rest 
of  your  life.  But  there,  what  an  absurd  thing 
for  me  to  say  to  you.  Of  course,  your  con- 
science is  clear !  How  should  it  be  anything 
else  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Margot ;  "  when  I  think  of 
the  tricks  I  have  played  Aunt  Marcia  in  my  time, 
I  really  feel  now  and  then  as  if  I  ought  to  blush 
for  myself." 

"  Oh,  Aunt  Marcia  will  forgive  you  when  you 
are  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  he,  easily. 


86  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"Yes,  I  know  she  will.  I  have  been  staying 
with  her,  you  know." 

"  Yes,  I  know.     Did  you  enjoy  yourself?" 

"  No,  I  didn't  enjoy  myself  at  all ;  but  I  feel  that 
I  am  going  to  be  compensated,  because  the  Mere- 
diths to  whom  I  am  going  are  the  most  charming 
people  in  the  world — the  dearest,  sweetest,  best 
and  most  delightful  people  I  ever  knew.  Aunt 
Marcia  has  gone  away." 

"  Oh,  has  she !     Where  ?" 

"  She  has  gone  to  Italy." 

"  Really  ?" 

"  Yes,  she  has  gone  to  Italy.  She  suddenly  made 
up  her  mind  that  she  has  never  travelled  enough, 
so  she  decided  to  go  and  do  Italy  thoroughly. 
She  seemed  very  much  aggrieved  that  Father  didn't 
ask  her  to  go  with  us  when  we  have  been  abroad ; 
but  somehow  Father  best  likes  to  go  away  only 
with  me.  Aunt  Marcia  fidgets  so  ;  and  she  is  not 
as  pleasant  in  hotels  and  elsewhere  as  she  might 
be ;  and  you  know  Father  is  very  sensitive.  He  never 
gives  much  trouble  himself;  he  is  always  sweet  and 
civil  and  charming  to  everybody ;  and  it  makes  him 
feel  ill  when  Aunt  Marcia  talks  about  her  position 
and  what  she  is  used  to  at  home,  and  all  that,  don't 
you  know ;  so  he  never  would  ask  her  to  go  away 
with  us." 

"  And  I  suppose  he  never  will  ?" 

"  Never,  I  should  say.  Anyway,  Aunt  Marcia 
has  gone  off  with  her  maid,  and  they  have  shut  up 
the  house,  and  the  gardener's  wife  is  just  looking 
after  it  a  little." 


AN  UNFORTUNATE  ACCIDENT.  87 

"  And  they  have  actually  gone  ?" 

"  Yes,  she  started  at  ten  o'clock  this  morning. 
She  wanted  me  to  start  at  a  quarter-past  nine,  so  as 
to  get  out  of  the  house  before  her,  -but  I  said, 
'  Really,  Auntie,  I  can't  do  it.  I  can't  arrive  at  a 
house  early  in  the  morning.  It  would  be  dread- 
ful. I  like  to  get  there  in  time  for  dinner,  and 
make  an  entrance.'  So  eventually  she  consented 
to  my  being  left  to  start  by  this  train.  One  has 
to  be  very  firm  with  Aunt  Marcia  sometimes. 
She  always  thinks  that  what  she  arranges  and 
what  she  plans  out  must  be  better  than  the 
arrangements  and  plans  of  everybody  else  in  the 
world  put  together.  Now,  you  know,  I  call  that 
very  conceited." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Yes,  because,  when  you  come  to  think  of  it,  a 
person  who  is  going  on  a  journey  likes  to  plan 
that  journey  herself.  Aunt  Marcia  planned  her 
own  journey  to  town,  and  she  crosses  to-night ;  but 
she  wasn't  satisfied  for  me  to  plan  my  journey  to 
my  liking.  However,  she  did  give  way,  quite 
gracefully  for  her.  She  said  she  didn't  know  what 
the  young  people  of  the  present  day  wrere  coming 
to,  and  that  when  she  was  my  age  she  wouldn't 
have  minded  what  hour  she  arrived  on  a  new  visit, 
but,  as  I  told  her,  girls  think  of  effect  more  now 
than  they  used  to  do,  and  she  raised  her  hands  at 
that  and  said,  '  Tut — tut — tut !'  But  still,  I  came 
by  the  train  that  I  meant  to  come  by.  Well,  for 
one  thing,  perhaps  a  little  because  I  thought  it 
would  be  more  convenient  to  you." 


88  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"So  it  is,  much  more  convenient.  We  don't 
have  to  go  through  Blankhampton  ?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  we  branch  off  at  Chorley." 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  did  not  branch  off 
at  Chorley,  for,  to  be  explicit,  they  never  got  to 
Chorley  at  all.  The  words  were  scarcely  out  of 
his  mouth  when  something  happened,  a  something 
which  banged  them  up  against  the  other  side  of 
the  carriage,  a  something  which  sent  the  lamps 
out  and  left  them  in  the  total  darkness  of  a  tunnel. 

"  By  Jove !  We  are  in  for  a  smash  !"  exclaimed 
Godfrey,  catching  hold  of  her.  "  Are  you  hurt, 
darling?" 

"  No — I  am  not  hurt — I  am  a  bit  shaken."  Her 
teeth  chattered  together  with  fear.  "  Oh,  do  you 
hear  that  ?  Oh,  those  awful  bumps !  Oh,  God- 
frey, I  believe  we  shall  all  be  killed  !" 

"  Here,  hold  tight  on  to  me.  Hold  tight  There, 
it  is  coming  to  a  stop.  It  is  all  right.  We  are  off 
the  rails,  I  think.  It  will  be  all  right,  dear ;  don't 
tremble  so." 

"  I  can't  help  trembling.  Oh,  I  feel  as  if  every- 
thing was  going  upside  down,"  and  then  she  dis- 
tinguished herself  by  quietly  sitting  down  in  the 
darkness  and  fainting. 

The  situation  was  really  a  horrible  one.  With- 
out, all  was  confusion  and  excitement.  Godfrey 
let  down  the  window  and  peered  out  into  the  thick 
gloom.  There  was  a  flare  of  light  just  ahead  of 
him  where  he  imagined  the  engine  was ;  and  the 
engine  itself  was  snorting  so  as  to  drown  every 
noise  except  the  loudest  shrieks  of  the  affrighted 


AN  UNFORTUNATE  ACCIDENT.  89 

passengers.  He  felt  in  his  pocket  for  the  match- 
box which  he  always  carried,  and  which  was  filled 
with  wax  vestas,  and  one  served  to  show  him  what 
had  happened  to  Margot.  At  that  moment  a  guard 
came  running  along  and  asked  him  if  he  was  hurt. 

"  Not  at  all ;  but  here  is  a  lady  who  has  fainted. 
Can  you  get  her  some  water  ?" 

"  Yes,  Sir  ;  a  passenger  gave  me  this  flask.  It 
is  full  of  brandy  and  water.  Do  you  think  she  is 
hurt  ?" 

"  No,  I  don't  think  she  is  hurt.  I  think  she  is 
just  frightened  and  shaken.  I  will  get  her  to  take 
a  little  if  I  can."  He  forced  a  few  drops  between 
Margot's  lips,  enough  to  make  her  shiver  and 
open  her  eyes.  "You  are  all  right?  You  are 
not  hurt,  are  you  ?  I  don't  think  you  are  hurt." 

"  No,  I  don't  think  I  am  hurt.  Godfrey,  what 
happened  ?  Oh,  we  got  smashed  up,  didn't  we  ? 
Is  any  one  hurt?" 

"  I  believe  they  are,  on  in  front.  Take  a  little 
more  of  this,  and  let  the  guard  have  it  to  give  to 
others." 

She  did  as  he  bade  her,  but  expressed  great  re- 
pugnance at  the  unusual  draught.  "It  is  very 
nasty,"  she  said,  weakly. 

"  Yes,  I  know ;  but  it  will  put  life  into  you,  and  I 
must  get  you  out  of  this.  Here,  my  man,  thank 
you  awfully  much.  Here  is  half  a  crown  for  you. 
The  lady  is  all  right;  she  was  only  a  bit  frightened." 
He  turned  round  to  Margot  again  as  the  man 
passed  on  with  a  word  of  thanks.  "  Margot,"  he 
said,  taking  hold  of  her  hand  and  holding  it  hard, 
8* 


90  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"I  want  you  to  keep  your  wits  about  you.  We 
shall  not  be  able  to  get  forward,  I  am  afraid.  We 
may  be  hours  in  this  beastly  tunnel.  For  Heaven's 
sake,  keep  your  wits  about  you!  Everything  de- 
pends upon  it.  They  are  sure  to  come  and  ask 
what  our  names  are,  being  first-class  passengers ; 
and  I  shall  say  Smith.  Do  you  hear?  Can  you 
understand?  You  mustn't  say  you  are  Miss  Dan- 
gerfield,  of  Bladensbrook ;  it  will  give  us  away  im- 
mediately. Even  the  fellows  at  Blankhampton, 
seeing  our  names  in  the  paper,  would  know  in  a 
moment  why  I  had  got  a  couple  of  days'  leave, 
and  that  it  was  so  as  to  meet  you.  Remember 
you  are  Miss  Smith — my  sister.  Do  you  clearly 
understand  me  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  am  Miss  Smith,  your  sister." 

"  Of  where  ?  Of  London.  Smith,  of  London, 
is  safe.  Now  you  are  sure  you  will  remember  even 
if  you  should  faint  again  ?" 

"  I  am  not  going  to  faint  again,  Godfrey,"  said 
Margot ;  "  I  am  all  right.  It  was  the  shaking  or 
something  of  that  kind.  I  feel  quite  right,  thank 
you,"  but  she  spoke  in  a  dreamy  kind  of  way,  and 
he  was  by  no  means  sure  that  she  was  all  right,  or 
anything  near  it. 

"Do  you  think  you  can  get  down  if  I  help 
you  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  of  course.  Do  you  think  it  would  be 
better?" 

"  I  think  it  will  be  better  to  be  clear  of  the 
wreckage,  you  know.  Although  this  carriage  is 
not  much  damaged,  at  the  same  time  one  never 


AN  UNFORTUNATE  ACCIDENT.  gi 

knows  what  may  happen.  I  should  feel  more 
comfortable  if  we  were  out  on  the  line." 

"  Then  we  will  go  on  the  line.  You  go  first  and 
help  me  down." 

They  were  soon  out  of  the  carriage  and  walking 
along  the  line.  Margot  was  still  trembling  and 
clung  tight  to  Godfrey's  arm.  They  soon  came 
upon  the  guard  who  had  first  spoken  to  Godfrey. 

"  The  question  is,"  said  the  guard,  "  which  will 
be  the  best  way  to  get  out  of  this  tunnel  ?  We  are 
six  miles  from  the  station  ahead  of  us ;  we  are  only 
about  two  miles  from  the  last  one  we  passed.  If 
one  of  the  passengers  would  walk  back  and  get  us 
help,  it  would  be  the  best  thing  possible.  I  daren't 
leave  my  post."  . 

"  Oh,  we  will  go  back  and  get  help.  I  will 
simply  tell  them  at  the  station  ?" 

"That's  all,  Sir.  Tell  them  to  come  on  with 
another  train  at  once,  and  to  bring  doctors  and 
such  things  as  are  necessary  for  the  injured.  But 
they  will  know  what  to  do,  Sir,  if  you  will  tell 
them  what  sort  of  a  smash  it  is." 

"  Then,  come  along,"  said  Godfrey  to  Margot. 

"  Well,  Sir,  I  would  like  to  have  your  name,  you 
know." 

"  Oh,  Smith,  of  London." 

"  And  this  lady  ?" 

"  My  sister.  Well,  we'll  go,  and  I  will  send 
back  help  as  quickly  as  possible.  Come,  my  child, 
come." 

They  started  at  a  quick  pace  up  the  line  in  the 
direction  in  which  they  had  just  come.  It  was 


Q2  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

horribly  dark,  and  Margot  caught  tight  hold  of  her 
companion's  arm,  clutching  at  him  in  deadly  fear, 
although  there  was  no  possible  chance  of  another 
train  coming  behind  them,  and  it  would  be  easy  to 
get  out  of  the  way  of  another  train  which  they 
might  meet.  Besides,  as  Godfrey  told  her,  it  was 
not  very  likely  that  any  train  would  be  allowed  to 
pass  the  last  station  until  signalled  "  road  clear" 
from  the  one  six  miles  ahead.  Still,  the  way  was 
gloomy  and  full  of  terror.  Now  and  again  he 
lighted  a  match  to  see  how  they  were  getting  on, 
and  at  last  they  saw  a  gleam  of  bluish  light  ahead, 
and  presently  they  emerged  into  the  light  of  day. 
She  gave  a  great  shudder  as  she  felt  herself  once 
more  in  the  fresher  air. 

"  We  have  a  mile  and  a  half  to  walk ;  do  you 
think  you  can  manage  it  ?"  he  asked ;  "  or  shall  I 
leave  you  here  on  the  bank  and  run  the  whole 
way  ?" 

"  Oh,  don't  leave  me !"  she  cried,  "  don't  leave 
me !  I  know  I  shall  go  into  screaming  hysterics 
if  you  do.  I  know  I  am  quite  well  and  strong,  and 
I  can  walk  very  well,  so  for  mercy's  sake  don't 
leave  me." 

"  I  won't  leave  you.     I  promise  you,  I  won't." 

So  they  took  hands  again  and  trudged  steadily 
along  in  the  direction  of  Brixham.  They  didn't 
.vaste  breathe  in  talking.  Margot  was  shattered 
and  upset,  and  Pull  of  anxiety  to  get  help  to  the 
injured  as  soon  as  possible.  Godfrey  was  troubled 
in  another  way.  He  kept  turning  and  turning  in 
his  mind  how  he  could  account  for  Margot  being 


AN  UNFORTUNATE   ACCIDENT.  93 

in  the  train — or,  at  least,  for  his  being  in  the  train 
with  Margot. 

"  I  don't  believe  you  will  be  able  to  get  on  to- 
night, you  know,"  he  said  at  last,  when  they  came 
within  sight  of  the  little  country  station. 

"  Oh,  well,  never  mind,  dear.  It  doesn't  matter. 
We  can  talk  it  out  afterwards.  You  get  help  sent 
off,  and  let  the  rest  take  care  of  itself.  It  really 
doesn't  matter  much." 

He  knew  that  there  was  truth  in  what  she  said 
and  quickened  his  footsteps.  He  found  the  three 
officials  in  the  little  country  station  full  of  dismay 
and  consternation.  They  had  assumed,  from  not 
having  received  the  usual  "  line  clear"  signal,  that 
some  accident  had  happened,  and  were  soon  busy 
telegraphing  his  information  to  head-quarters. 

He  learned  that  a  train  following  the  wrecked 
express  was  then  nearly  due,  and  would  come  on  as 
far  as  that  point  as  usual,  and  would  then  be  cleared 
and  sent  forward  to  the  scene  of  the  accident. 

"  And  your  name,  Sir  ?"  said  the  station- 
master. 

"  Smith,"  replied  Godfrey,  "  and  my  sister." 
As  the  words  passed  his  lips,  he  suddenly  remem- 
bered that  Margot's  luggage  was  in  the  train. 
"  Margot,"  he  said,  in  an  undertone,  "  your  lug- 
gage was  in  the  train,  of  course  ?" 

"  Why,  of  course  it  was — of  course  it  is,"  she 
replied. 

"  Are  your  boxes  marked  ?" 

"  I  have  only  one  huge  trunk  with  me ;  yes,  it 
is  marked." 


94  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  How  marked  ?     What  name  is  on  it  ?" 

"  Well,  there  is  no  name  on  it ;  it  is  marked 
'  M.  D.',  and  it  is  labelled  to  Heckmansworth." 

"  Well,  then,  how  the  deuce  am  I  to  get  your 
luggage  without  saying  who  you  are  ?  Oh,  con- 
found it !  This  has  put  us  in  a  pretty  hole." 

"Well,  I  can  go  to  Heckmansworth  and  claim 
it  there,  surely  ?" 

"  No ;  I  will  go  back  along  the  line  and  get  that 
guard  chap  to  hand  it  out  to  me.  Look  here,  if 
I  get  you  something  to  eat  and  drink,  do  you  feel 
fit  to  go  back,  when  they  get  a  train  here,  and 
secure  your  luggage  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  fit  to  do  anything,"  said  Margot, 
"  rather  than  have  a  row  about  it ,  and  there  will 
be  a  row  if  Aunt  Marcia  finds  out.  She'll  know 
then  why  I  wouldn't  go  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning." 

"  Well,  then,  I  will  tell  the  station-master  here 
that  I  will  go  back,  and  that  you  prefer  to  go  back 
with  me  so  as  to  get  your  luggage.  Which  end 
of  the  train  is  it  in  ?" 

"  Oh,  in  the  end  nearest  the  engine." 

"  There,  now  !  On  my  word,  it  is  aggravating ! 
But  at  all  events,  that  is  the  best  thing  we  can  do. 
Now  come  across  ;  here  is  a  little  inn,  and  they  will 
be  able  to  give  you  something  to  eat.  Will  you 
have  tea  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  would  rather  have  tea  than  any- 
thing. That  brandy  has  made  my  head  ache." 

"  Very  likely  so ;  but  it  saved  you." 

He  went  and  sought  out  the  station-master  and 


A  DREADFUL   SCRAPE.  95 

told  him  that  he  would  prefer  to  go  back  with  the 
first  train  to  the  scene  of  the  accident.  "  My  sis- 
ter is  very  anxious  to  secure  her  luggage,  if  pos- 
sible. She  is  very  much  pressed  for  time,  and,  if 
it  is  possible  to  rescue  her  luggage,  we  can  proceed 
on  our  journey  without  any  delay." 


CHAPTER    X. 

A    DREADFUL   SCRAPE. 

WITH  little  difficulty,  Godfrey  found  the  friendly 
guard  and  unfolded  to  him  his  ideas  for  rescuing 
Margot's  luggage. 

"  Which  van  was  the  lady's  luggage  in,  Sir  ?" 
the  man  asked. 

"  It  was  in  the  van  nearest  to  the  engine." 

"  Oh,  well,  Sir,  I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to 
oblige  you ;  but  you  might  as  well  ask  me  to  get 
you  one  of  the  jewels  out  of  the  Queen's  crown 
as  to  get  any  luggage  out  of  that  first  van.  I 
assure  you,  Sir,  I  have  been  over  the  wreckage, 
and  the  first  half-dozen  carriages  are  telescoped 
one  into  another.  Ton  my  word,  it  is  the  most 
dreadful  sight  I  ever  saw  in  my  life." 

"  Do  you  think  it  will  be  recognisable  when  it 
does  come  out  ?" 

"  I  can't  speak  to  that,  Sir.  I  can't  say  anything 
as  to  that.  It  may  be,  or  it  may  not  be.  I  should 
say  myself  everything  will  be  pretty  much  knocked 


96  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

about.  Of  course,  the  lady  can  claim  and  have  the 
loss  made  good,  you  know,  Sir.  The  company  will 
make  the  loss  good.  Was  the  lady's  name  on  the 
luggage  ?" 

"  No,  no,"  said  Godfrey.  "  Look  here ;  I  will 
come  up  in  a  couple  of  days'  time.  Where  shall 
I  be  likely  to  find  you  ?" 

"  Well,  Sir,  I  really  can't  say ;  but  if  you  would 
leave  me  your  address,  I  would  write  to  you.  But 
how  shall  I  know  the  lady's  luggage  ?" 

"  By  the  bye,  is  there  any  initial  on  your  box  ?" 
said  Godfrey,  turning  to  Margot. 

"  Well,  yes,  '  M.  D.'  " 

"  M.  D. !  What  on  earth  were  you  doing  with 
a  box  marked  M.  D.  ?" 

"  Well,  I  had  Margot's  box,"  said  she,  in  a  wild 
fit  of  semi-prevarication. 

"Oh,  I  see.  That  will  account  for  it  Well, 
M.  D.  and  labelled  to  Heckmansworth ;  and  look 
here,"  taking  out  a  letter  from  his  pocket  and 
hastily  tearing  off  the  half  sheet,  "  you  write  to 
me  at  Brixham.  I  shall  be  there  for  a  day  or  two." 
He  hastily  scribbled  the  name  "  W.  Smith,  Rose 
and  Crown  Hotel,  Brixham." 

"  Well,  Sir,  you  are  likely  to  be  wanted  at  the 
enquiry." 

"  Oh,  no ;  I  knew  nothing  of  the  accident." 

"  I  think  the  directors  will  like  to  thank  you, 
Sir." 

"  Oh,  no ;  I  don't  want  any  thanks.  Very  glad 
to  do  all  I  could.  You  have  been  exceedingly 
civil  to  me.  And  you  understand,  now,  you  write 


A  DREADFUL   SCRAPE.  97 

to  me  as  soon  as  you  can  get  any  possible  informa- 
tion about  the  luggage  ?" 

"  I  will  that  same,  Sir,  I  will." 

So  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  return  by  the 
relief  train  to  the  little  country  station  at  which 
they  had  given  the  details  of  the  accident.  By 
that  time  it  was  close  on  six  o'clock ;  Margot  was 
getting  desperately  anxious  and  not  a  little  hungry. 
"  What  do  you  think  I  had  better  do  ?"  she  asked, 
when  they  found  themselves  once  more  on  the  line. 

"  My  dear  girl,  we  shall  have  to  go  back  to 
Brixham.  You  may  be  able  to  go  on  by  another 
route."  * 

"  But  how  am  I  to  go  without  my  luggage  ?  I 
have  nothing  but  what  I  have  got  on ;  and  they 
have  a  dinner-party  to-night ;  and  I  can't  get  there 
now  till  ever  so  late.  Besides,  it  will  tell  them 
that  I  was  in  the  smash,  and  then  it  will  all  come 

out  that  I  was  with  a  man  and Oh,  there 

will  be  such  an  awful  row  about  it." 

"  Well,  dear,  we  must  wait  till  we  get  back  to 
Brixham.  You  couldn't  go  to  a  shop  there  and 
get  some  things  sharp  ?" 

"  I  might,"  she  said,  doubtfully ;  "  but  it  is  late 
now." 

However,  by  the  time  they  got  to  Brixham  it 
was  already  half-past  six. 

"  They  do  keep  open  late  in  these  country 
towns,"  said  she,  hopefully ;  "  but  still,  in  any  case, 
I  can't  get  there  till  midnight.  I  don't  know  what 
to  do.  They  were  to  send  to  meet  me  at  the 
station.  I  feel  most  anxious." 

E          g  9 


9»  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG   MAN. 

"  Look  here,"  said  Godfrey ;  "  you  had  better 
telegraph  and  put  your  visit  off  for  a  couple  of 
days.  To-morrow  you  can  go  into  the  town  and 
get  yourself  a  complete  wardrobe.  It's  the  simplest 
matter  in  the  world.  Get  a  box,  have  your  initials 
on  it,  get  evening  dresses  and  everything  that  you 
can  possibly  require  till  you  get  home  again,  and 
let's  leave  your  own  luggage  to  itself.  Are  there 
any  letters  in  your  trunk  ?" 

"  No,  no  letters,  but  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  jewellery." 

"  That  doesn't  matter,  as  long  as  there  is  nothing 
to  show  who  you  are.  What  is  your  linen  marked  ?" 

"  Oh,  M.  D. — everything.  I  always  have  it  em- 
broidered." 

"  Then  you  are  safe  enough." 

"  But  Auntie's  house  is  shut  up.  I  can't  sleep  in 
a  house  by  myself." 

"  You  must  sleep  at  a  hotel." 

"  But  what  will  people  say  ?" 

"  Why,  they  will  say  that  you  are  my  sister, 
Miss  Smith.  We  shouldn't  be  such  idiots  as  to 
tell  them." 

"  Oh,  I  do  feel  so  uneasy.  I  don't  know  what 
on  earth  to  do.  Is  there  no  other  way  out  of  it  ?" 

"  My  dear  child,  what  other  way  is  there  out  of 
it  ?  Fortunately,  I  have  got  a  few  days'  leave,  and 
therefore  I  can  see  you  safely  through  this.  Tele- 
graph to  Mrs.  Meredith  and  say,  'Unexpectedly 
detained.  Obliged  to  put  visit  off  for  a  couple  of 
days.  Beg  you  will  excuse  me.  Writing  by  to- 
night's post.'  I  daresay  you  will  have  to  keep  a 


A  DREADFUL   SCRAPE.  99 

bit  wide  of  the  actual  facts  to  explain  matters  ;  but 
you  can  say  that  your  movements  were  dependent 
on  your  aunt's.  They  will  understand  that." 

"  Yes,  I  can  say  that.  How  shall  I  get  their 
answer  ?" 

"  Well — that  is  rather  a  question.  How  to  get 
their  answer  ?  Yes,  of  course  you  must  give  an 
address.  Can't  that  old  gardener's  wife  be  squared  ? 
Does  she  know  where  you  were  going  ?" 

"  Oh,  no  ;  I  don't  think  so." 

"  Well,  you  walk  up  in  the  morning.  Go  in  a 
casual  way,  and  ask  her  to  keep  any  letters  that 
may  come  for  you.  Tell  her  you  are  staying  in 
the  town  for  a  day  or  two  with  some  friends.  It 
is  quite  true.  Give  her  a  half-crown  for  herself; 
it  is  quite  simple." 

"  Of  course,  Auntie  is  going  to  be  away  at  least 
six  months " 

"  Oh,  she  will  have  forgotten  all  about  it  long 
before  Mrs.  Blake  comes  back  again.  It  is  the 
simplest  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  Above  all 
things,  Margot,  don't  say  a  word  that  would  raise 
her  suspicions.  Don't  ask  her  not  to  say  anything 
about  it,  or  anything  at  all,  and  she  will  take  it  as 
a  matter  of  course.  How  does  she  know  who 
you  might  know  in  the  neighbourhood  ?" 

"  No,  no,  true ;  yet  I  feel  it  will  all  come  out. 
What  shall  I  do  if  it  does  ?" 

"  Well,  you  will  have  to  bear  it.  The  whole 
thing  is  an  accident." 

"  Your  being  with  me  is  not  an  accident  God- 
frey." 


IOO  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Well,  my  dear  child,  we  are  engaged ;  we  are 
going  to  be  married.  After  all,  we  have  done 
nothing  wrong." 

"Oh,  that  is  what  people  who  get  into  scrapes 
always  say,"  said  Margot,  with  a  groan. 

"  However,  here  we  are.  Shall  we  go  right 
away  to  the  telegraph  office  and  send  off  that 
message  now  ?" 

"  Yes,  that  will  be  the  best  thing." 

They  were  just  turning  into  the  telegraph  office, 
when  a  sudden  thought  occurred  to  Godfrey.  "  By 
the  bye,  we  had  better  send  it  from  the  town.  It 
won't  make  five  minutes'  difference,  and  a  telegram 
from  here  would  have  'station'  on  it.  We  had 
better  go  into  the  town,  and  don't  let's  lose  a 
moment." 

They  took  a  cab  and  went  off  to  the  post-office, 
where  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  wrote  out  the  message 
which  had  been  agreed  upon  between  them. 

"  Dreadfully  sorry.  Prevented  at  last  moment 
from  starting.  Excuse  me  if  I  put  my  visit  off  for 
two  days.  Am  writing." 

"  Any  telegrams  or  letters  that  may  come  for 
Miss  Dangerfield,  keep  here,"  said  Godfrey  to  the 
clerk ;  "  she  is  staying  in  the  town.  Mrs.  Blake's 
house  is  shut  up,  and  we  will  come  in  to-morrow 
for  any  letters  or  telegrams." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  can't  keep  letters  back,  Sir. 
Stay ;  the  young  lady  can  have  a  form  and  fill  it  in, 
asking  to  have  any  letters  kept  for  her  at  the  post- 
office." 

"  Godfrey,"  said  Margot,  as  they  walked  away 


A  DREADFUL   SCRAPE.  IOI 

down  the  street,  "  I  can't  tell  you  what  I  feel  like. 
Oh,  Godfrey,  I  can't  tell  you  what  I  feel  like.  I 
feel  frightened" 

"Oh,  my  dear,  don't  say  that.  It  will  be  all 
right.  Everything  is  working  out  quite  smoothly. 
By  the  bye,  hadn't  you  better  go  and  get  some 
things  before  the  shops  close  ?" 

"  My  dear,  look  at  them  all !  It  is  early  closing 
day.  Fate  is  against  us — fate  is  against  me.  I 
never  felt  so  frightened  in  my  life." 

"  My  dear  child,  there  is  not  the  least  need  for 
you  to  feel  anything  of  the  kind.  I  tell  you  every- 
thing is  working  out  quite  smoothly." 

"  Godfrey,  how  can  we  go  to  the  hotel  without 
any  luggage  ?" 

"  Well,  that  is  quite  simple.  We  must  go  and 
say  the  truth, — that  we've  got  our  luggage  locked 
up  in  the  tunnel  under  half  a  dozen  railway  car- 
riages." 

"  What,  tell  them  we  have  been  in  the  accident  ?" 

"  Oh,  of  course." 

"Oh,  I  see.  Well,  then,  do  you  think  I  had 
better  go  and  get  some  things  for  to-night?  I 
have  got  nothing  to  sleep  in." 

"  Certainly  go  ;  but  let's  go  to  the  hotel  and  order 
our  dinner  first ;  then,  whilst  it  is  getting  ready,  you 
can  go  out  and  buy  some  things. 

"  And  you  ?" 

"  I  ?  Oh,  yes,  I  will  go  too.  There  are  sure  to 
be  some  shops  open." 

They  met  with  no  difficulty  whatever  at  the 
hotel.  The  landlord,  who  met  them  in  the  hall, 
9* 


102  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

seemed  to  think  it  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world  that  they  should  have  been  smashed  up  in 
an  appalling  railway  accident. 

"  Certainly,  Sir,  we  can  accommodate  you  most 
comfortably.  Very  annoying  for  the  lady  to  have 
so  much  difficulty,  but  glad  to  say  we  shall  be 
able  to  make  you  very  comfortable.  Can  we  lend 
the  lady  any  things  ?" 

"  My  sister  thought  of  going  out  to  buy  some." 

"Oh,  that  is  not  at  all  necessary,  Sir.  I  am 
quite  sure  my  wife  can  lend  the  lady  suitable  gar- 
ments to  sleep  in.  She  would  perhaps  prefer  to 
buy  a  hair-brush." 

"  Oh,  the  hair-brush  will  always  come  in  use- 
ful," said  Margot. 

"And  your  name,  Sir?" 

"  Smith — William  Smith,  London,  and  my  sis- 
ter, Miss  Smith." 

Margot  blushed.  She  was  painfully  conscious 
that  she  did  not  look  like  a  Miss  Smith.  People 
whose  names  are  Dangerfield  and  Bladensbrook 
and  other  uncommon  appellations  always  have  a 
feeling  that  they  do  not  look  like  anybody  with  a 
name  which  is  shared  largely  by  others  of  the 
community.  The  hotel  keeper  noticed  the  blush. 
Hotel  keepers,  as  a  rule,  are  people  who  do  notice 
trifles.  Sometimes  those  who  frequent  hotels 
would  be  surprised  to  know  how  accurately  mine 
host  is  able  to  sum  them  up,  socially,  mentally,  and 
financially. 

"  You  will  have  dinner,  Sir,"  said  he  to  Godfrey. 

"  Yes,  as  soon  as  you  can." 


A   SUDDEN  RESOLUTION.  103 

"  In  the  dining-room  ?" 

"  I  would  rather  have  a  private  sitting-room." 

"  Certainly,  Sir ;  very  nice  private  sitting-room  on 
the  first  floor,  bedroom  opening  out  of  it" 

"  That  will  do  very  well.  Then,  Nellie,"  he 
said,  turning  to  Margot,  "  we  will  go  right  away 
and  buy  ourselves  some  hair-brushes.  How  soon 
will  dinner  be  ready  ?" 

"  Half  an  hour,  Sir.  You  will  dine  off  the  roast, 
of  course  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes ;  with  one  or  two  other  things.  Give  us 
a  regular  dinner.' 

"  In  half  an  hour,  Sir." 

"  Very  well,  then.     Come  along,  Nellie." 

"  Oh,  Godfrey  !"  she  said. 

"  You  mustn't  call  me  Godfrey,  that's  certain. 
You  had  better  call  me  Willie;  it  sounds  nice  and 
homely  and  sisterly.  How  do  you  like  your  new 
name,  Miss  Smith  ?  Miss  Nellie  Smith  ?" 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Willie  Smith ;  I  like  it  very 
much." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

A   SUDDEN    RESOLUTION. 

WHEN  they  were  safely  in  their  sitting-room, 
Margot  caught  hold  of  Godfrey's  sleeve  with  her 
two  little  trembling  hands.  "  Oh,  Godfrey,"  she 
said,  "  something  dreadful  will  come  of  all  this !  I 
know  it.  I  feel  it.  What  in  the  world  shall  I  do  ? 


104  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

How  shall  I  explain  it  ?  Oh,  what  in  the  world 
are  we  to  do  ?" 

"Nothing  of  the  kind,"  said  he,  soothingly. 
"Not  a  soul  will  know  anything  about  it." 

"  Well,  but  how  am  I  to  account  to  Aunt  Marcia 
for  not  going  by  that  train  ?  How  am  I  to  ac- 
count to  her  for  your  being  in  the  train  ?  And 
how  am  I  to  account;  to  her  for  wiring  to  Mrs. 
Meredith  that  I  couldn't  come  to-day?  I  don't 
know  what  in  the  world  I  shall  do.  We  had  far 
better  have  made  a  clean  breast  of  it  and  simply 
said  we  were  in  the  train,  and  have  gone  back  and 
slept  at  the  hotel  without  any  concealment,  but  to 
go  and  give  the  name  of  Smith  !  What  were  we 
thinking  of,  Godfrey  ?" 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  he,  "  it  is  no  use  thinking 
of  anything  now.  The  only  thing  we  have  got  to 
do  is  to  eat  our  dinner.  Dinner  will  straighten 
things  out,  show  things  in  a  different  light,  and 
generally  bring  matters  to  a  satisfactory  conclu- 
sion. Without  dinner,  everything  looks  black, 
wretched,  and  frightful." 

"  My  dear  Godfrey,"  said  Margot,  "  when  you 
told  the  landlord  that  I  was  your  sister,  he  turned 
and  looked  at  me.  Oh,  I  thought  I  should  have 
died.  I  would  have  liked  the  floor  to  have  opened 
and  swallowed  me  up.  I  felt  myself  blushing — a 
horrid,  red,  vivid,  guilty,  ashamed  scarlet.  I  don't 
wonder  they  called  the  Scarlet  Woman  the  symbol 
of  sin,  for  sin  is  red." 

"  But  you  are  not  a  sinner,"  said  Godfrey,  laugh- 
ing at  her. 


A   SUDDEN  RESOLUTION.  105 

"  Very  near  to  it.  We  have  told  downright  lies 
to-day,  Godfrey,  you  and  I." 

"  Well,  if  you  put  it  in  that  way,  we  have.  The 
fact  is,  I  suppose  I  ought  not  to  have  come  along 
to  meet  you  before  our  engagement  was  definitely 
announced.  Having  done  so,  perhaps  it  would 
have  been  better  to  make  a  clean  breast  of  it. 
However,  it  is  done  now.  I  did  it  for  the  best.  I 
thought  to  keep  your  name  out  of  the  smash  alto- 
gether ;  and,  after  all,  there's  no  great  harm  done; 
and — there,  don't  say  another  word.  I  hear  the 
waiter." 

The  next  moment  the  waiter  bustled  in  with  the 
first  course  of  the  dinner.  The  two  went  to  the 
table  and  seated  themselves. 

"  What  will  you  drink,  Sir  ?"  the  waiter  asked. 

"  Drink  ?     Nellie,  what  will  you  have  to  drink  ?" 

"  Some  water,"  said  she,  promptly. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  child,  you  can't  drink  water. 
Oh,  is  that  the  list  ?  Well— we'll  have  a  bottle  of 
that." 

"  A  large  bottle  or  small  bottle,  Sir  ?" 

"  Oh,  a  large  bottle.  My  dear,"  turning  to 
Margot,  "  you  must  drink  to  our  safety.  By 
Jove,  you  and  I  might  have  been  jolly  well 
smashed  up  by  this  time  if  it  hadn't  been  for 
sheer  luck !" 

By  dint  of  much  persuasion  and  argument,  he 
induced  Margot  tovmake  a  very  tolerable  meal  and 
to  drink  a  couple  of  glasses  of  the  champagne 
which  he  had  ordered.  But  as  the  time  wore  on 
he  found  that  Margot  grew  more  and  more  dis- 


106  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

mayed  with  the  idea  of  what  they  had  done.  "  I 
can't  think,"  she  said,  for  about  the  fiftieth  time, 
"  how  in  the  world  I  am  to  explain  things." 

"  My  dear  child,  there  is  no  great  necessity  to 
explain  anything.  In  the  first  place,  your  aunt  and 
Mrs.  Meredith  don't  seem  to  know  one  another." 

"  They  might  meet." 

"  Well,  they  might;  but  it  isn't  likely  Mrs.  Blake 
will  ask  Mrs.  Meredith  what  time  you  arrived  on 
a  visit  that  happened  half  a  year  before." 

"  No ;  but  Mrs.  Meredith  may  think — she  may 
be  thinking  that  I  might  have  wired  at  once  when 
I  found  that  I  missed  the  train  instead  of  waiting 
three  hours  at  least.  She  is  sure  to  ask  why  I 
didn't  wire  at  once;  why  I  let  them  send  the 
horses  to  the  station  to  meet  me." 

"  Well,  you  must  make  the  best  explanation 
you  can." 

"  What  explanation  can  I  make  ?  Oh,  I  feel  as 
if  it  is  sure  to  come  out.  It  is  bound  to  come  out. 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  get  my  luggage ;  I  have  noth- 
ing to  take.  Even  if  I  told  her  that  my  things 
accidentally  went  up  by  that  train,  she  will  know 
perfectly  well  that  I  was  in  the  train,  too.  I  don't 
know  what  to  do.  I  think  I  will  write  and  put 
Mrs.  Meredith  off  altogether,  and  I  will  go  home, 
I  will  write  and  tell  her  that  Father  is  not  well,  or 
something." 

"  Don't  commit  yourself." 

"  Well,  I  will  write  and  tell  her  that— I  will,  I'll 
write  to-night,  and  I  will  go  home  to-morrow. 
That  will  be  the  best  way  out  of  it.  I  will  go 


A  SUDDEN  RESOLUTION.  IO/ 

home  to-morrow.  I  must  write  to  Mrs.  Meredith 
to-night,  anyhow." 

"  Well,  then,  write  and  get  it  off  your  mind." 

So  Margot  wrote.  It  was  a  somewhat  lame  let- 
ter, and  it  told  Mrs.  Meredith  that  she  was  not 
very  easy  about  her  father,  that  she  had  had  a 
letter  from  home,  and  that  she  felt  her  father  missed 
her,  and  that  if  she  didn't  mind  she  would  put  off 
her  visit  to  her  for  some  little  time.  "  I  have  been 
away  now  for  more  than  a  fortnight,"  she  ended, 
"  and  it  is  very  easy  to  see  from  Father's  letters  that 
he  misses  me  dreadfully.  It  isn't  as  if  I  had  a 
mother,  dear  Mrs.  Meredith ;  and  I  know  you  will 
forgive  me,  and  not  think  me  capricious  if  I  go 
straight  back  again.  I  therefore  purpose  going 
home  to-morrow." 

"  And  what  address  have  you  given  ?" 

"  Oh,  Auntie's  address." 

"  Oh,  well,  send  that.  It  will  be  all  right.  My 
dear,  she  won't  care  a  bit  whether  you  come  or 
whether  you  don't.  By  the  bye,  I  am  going  out. 
I  want  some  matches.  I'll  get  a  paper,  too,  if  there's 
one  to  be  had  in  this  absurd  little  town  ;  so,  if  you 
will  give  me  your  letter,  I  will  post  it." 

Five  minutes  after  his  return,  however,  a  new 
terror  assailed  her.  "  Supposing  she  should 
chance  to  keep  that  letter  and  show  it  to  Aunt 
Marcia,  and  Aunt  Marcia  finds  out  that  I  was  not 
at  Eastleigh  after  she  left,  what  then  ?  And  then, 
you  see,  I  have  left  my  jewellery  in  my  box.  It 
isn't  much,  but,  still,  it  is  important  to  me.  There 
are  things  there  that  Aunt  Marcia  gave  me  herself 


IO8  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

— Oh,  Godfrey,  it's  bound  to  come  out.  It's  all 
bound  to  come  out.  And  when  you  think  of  the 
row  there  will  be  between  your  mother  and  my 
father  and  Aunt  Marcia — oh,  it  appals  me." 

For  a  few  minutes  Godfrey  did  not  reply.  He 
walked  up  and  down  the  room  puffing  fiercely  at 
his  cigarette,  his  brows  knit  moodily  together,  his 
whole  appearance  that  of  a  man  engaged  in  grap- 
pling with  some  very  difficult  problem.  "  Look  here, 
child,"  he  said,  at  last,  coming  to  a  stand-still  in 
front  of  her,  "  as  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is  only  one 
thing  for  us  to  do.  Let  us  get  married  at  once." 

"But  how?" 

"  It  is  quite  easy.  There  is  a  train  up  to  town 
— or  should  be — about  midnight.  I  will  go  up  by 
it.  You  will  be  quite  safe  here,  and  I  will  come 
down  by  the  first  train  to-morrow  morning,  if  I 
can  arrange  my  business,  bringing  a  special  license 
with  me.  Then  we  can  get  married,  and  I  will  get 
a  few  days'  leave  and  talk  things  quietly  over  with 
my  mother.  I  would  rather,  if  you  don't  mind, 
break  it  to  her,  because  she  is  not  in  very  good 
health,  and,  although  she  is  very  fond  of  you,  it 
may  come  in  a  certain  sense  as  a  shock  to  her." 

Margot's  heart  almost  stood  still  with  fear. 
"  Godfrey,"  she  said,  under  her  breath,  "  do  you 
mean  that  ?" 

"  Yes,  of  course  I  mean  it.  Mind  you,  I  have 
no  doubt  there  will  be  a  row  of  some  kind ;  there 
will  be  a  fuss ;  there  will  be  an  unpleasantness ; 
but  at  the  same  time  the  various  people  con- 
cerned cannot  say  the  same  things  to  my  wife 


A    SUDDEN  RESOLUTION.  1 09 

that  they  would  feel  themselves  perfectly  justified 
in  saying  to  my  fiancee.  Of  course,  if  nothing 
comes  out,  we  shall  have  given  ourselves  trouble 
for  nothing;  on  the  other  hand,  if  everything  does 
come  out,  the  whole  affair  will  have  a  very  ugly 
look  and  a  still  worse  sound.  We  know  per- 
fectly well  that  if  we  are  married  the  question  is 
settled,  and  we  intend  to  be  married  sooner  or 
later ;  and  the  sooner  we  are  married  the  better 
pleased  /shall  be,  as  I  need  hardly  explain  to  you." 

"  You  think  it  would  be  the  best  thing  to  do  ?" 
she  asked,  looking  at  him  anxiously. 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  don't  see  that  we  can  do  any- 
thing else.  There  will  be  an  awful  row  if  it  comes 
out.  In  fact,  I  have  bungled  the  whole  thing.  I 
admit  it.  I  have  made  a  mess  of  everything.  Of 
course,  I  ought  to  have  spoken  of  you  as  a  young 
lady  whom  I  had  rescued.  We  Bladensbrooks, 
you  know,  never  had  any  brains  ;  but  once  married, 
there  can  be  no  mistake  about  our  intentions  or 
anything  else ;  so  depend  upon  it,  it  is  the  best 
thing  we  can  possibly  do,  and,  as  I  say,  it  will  save 
a  fearful  lot  of  argument  afterwards.  Now,  if  I 
were  you,  I  wouldn't  go  out  at  all.  You  will  be 
all  right  here.  And  now,  let  me  see,  I  shall  be 
back  to  breakfast,  well,  to  a  late  breakfast.  Well, 
stop ;  it  is  four  hours  from  here  to  town,  and  there 
is  a  train  leaves  at  twelve  o'clock,  so  I  shall  be  here 
at  four ;  and  I  shall  find  a  parson,  and  we  will  have 
it  all  comfortably  pulled  off  before  dinner-time ;  and 
we'll  pay  our  bill  here  and  go  off  to  town  and 
have  a  couple  of  days  together  before  we  worry 


110  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

about  outside  influences  at  all.  By  Jove  !  What 
fun  it  will  be  !  Two  whole  days  together  before  any 
of  our  people  know  that  anything  has  happened." 

"  You  are  sure  you  will  come  back  ?"  said 
Margot. 

Godfrey  caught  hold  of  her,  "  Why,  my  dear, 
what  can  you  be  thinking  of?  If  I  am  alive,  of 
course  I  shall  come  back." 

"  And  you  think  I  shall  be  able  to  get  my 
things  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  shall  probably  be  able  to  get  them 
for  you  later  on.  If  not,  it  is  no  use  worrying 
about  so  small  a  matter.  You  will  want  new 
clothes  to  be  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  All  girls  want 
new  clothes  when  they  get  married,  don't  they  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  they  do." 

There  was  no  answering  smile  on  her  face.  She 
was  too  anxious,  too  much  distracted  to  see  even 
the  smallest  ghost  of  a  joke. 

"  And,  by  the  bye,"  said  he,  "  before  I  go,  I  must 
have  the  size  of  your  finger,  to  get  your  wedding 
ring,  madam ;  for  you  cannot  be  married  without  a 
ring.  Give  me  the  one  that  you  are  wearing  now. 
I  suppose  one  of  that  size  will  be  all  right  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  quite  right." 

She  took  the  ring  off  and  gave  it  to  him,  then 
Godfrey  rang  the  bell,  which  was  answered  by  the 
ubiquitous  waiter.  "  By  the  bye,  waiter,"  he  said, 
"  I  don't  think  you  need  trouble  about  any  things 
in  my  room.  I  must  go  up  to  London,  and  I  will 
go  by  the  train  at  one  o'clock.  The  mail,  isn't  it  ?" 

"Yes,  Sir." 


A   SUDDEN  RESOLUTION.  Ill 

"  My  sister  will  stay  here.  You  will  be  sure  to 
take  the  greatest  care  of  her  until  to-morrow.  I 
shall  be  back — well,  there  is  a  train  leaves  town  at 
twelve  o'clock.  I  shall  come  down  by  that." 

When  they  were  once  more  alone,  Godfrey  sat 
down  on  the  sofa  beside  his  sweetheart.  "  The 
best  thing  you  can  do,  dearest,"  he  said  to  her,  "  is 
to  go  off  to  bed  in  reasonable  time  and  try  to  get 
as  good  a  night's  rest  as  possible." 

"  Oh,  I  would  rather  stay  up  and  see  you  go," 
she  said,  hurriedly. 

"  My  dear  child,  I  beg  you  will  do  nothing  of 
the  kind.  In  the  first  place,  for  a  few  hours  we 
are  brother  and  sister;  no  sister  would  stay  up 
till  one  o'clock  to  see  a  brother  go  away  for  a  few 
hours  on  business.  It  is  half-past  ten  now ;  let  me 
entreat  you  to  go  to  bed  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  I 
will  go  down  to  the  smoking-room  and  put  in  the 
time  there  until  I  must  start.  It  is  quite  the  best 
thing  that  we  can  do.  Remember  that  to-morrow 
we  shall  be  together  for  always." 

"  Well,  in  a  certain  sense,"  said  Margot,  "  that 
is,  if  everything  comes  out  all  right." 

"  My  dear  child,  everything  must  come  out  all 
right.  Supposing  they  are  very  angry,  that  cannot 
take  us  away  from  each  other.  You  forget  that 
we  shall  be  man  and  wife.  Don't  you  know," 
seizing  hold  of  her  two  little  hands  and  holding 
the  tips  of  the  fingers  together,  "  don't  you  know 
the  old  saw  which  says,  '  Parent  and  child  may 
part,  brother  and  sister  may  part,  best  of  friends 
may  part,  but  husband  and  wife  can  never  part  ?' " 


112  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG   MAN. 

She  pulled  herself  together  by  a  great  effort  and 
looked  up  at  him  half  bravely  and  half  in  trepida- 
tion, "  I  can't  help  it,  Godfrey ;  I  feel  as  if  I  was 
doing  something  outrageously  and  abnormally 
wicked.  I  know  that  you  are  right ;  I  know  that 
we  have  got  ourselves  into  a  silly,  idiotic  scrape, 
and  that  you  are  taking  the  best  possibly  way  out 
of  it ;  but  all  the  same  I  feel  wretched  and  unhappy. 
You  see,  I  have  never  been  in  the  habit  of  going 
out  and  getting  married  in  this  sly,  underhand  kind 
of  way — perhaps  next  time  I  shall  take  it  more 
coolly." 

He  laughed  as  if  she  had  made  the  most  brilliant 
and  original  joke  in  the  whole  world;  and  so  they 
sat  there  for  yet  half  an  hour  longer,  when  he  in- 
sisted upon  her  going  off  to  bed.  "  Good-night, 
my  dear  love.  God  bless  you  and  take  care  of  you," 
were  his  parting  words.  "  Try  not  to  be  dull  while 
I  am  gone.  Remember  that  when  we  meet  again 
it  will  be  to  pledge  ourselves  for  all  time." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

HUSBAND   AND   WIFE. 

IN  spite  of  her  natural  doubts  and  fears,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Margot  Dangerfield  slept  like  a 
child  or  a  top  that  night  in  the  hotel  at  Brixham. 
You  see,  at  nineteen  anxiety  does  not  bite  very 
deeply.  She  was  very  anxious  and  troubled,  but 


HUSBAND  AND   WIFE.  113 

it  cannot  be  said  that  she  was  in  the  least  degree 
unhappy.  Before  all  other  men  in  the  world, 
Godfrey  Bladensbrook  was  the  man  of  her  choice ; 
from  her  early  childhood  he  had  been  the  one 
dominant  note  of  her  existence ;  so,  although  she 
was  to  a  certain  extent  troubled  and  doubtful  as  to 
whether  she  was  doing  quite  the  right  thing  in 
taking  so  important  a  step  without  consulting  her 
own  people,  the  feeling  was  more  than  overpowered 
by  the  joy  of  knowing  that  in  a  few  short  hours 
she  would  be  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's  wife.  So 
she  slept  like  a  child  or  a  top  until  quite  late  in 
the  morning,  when  in  answer  to  her  summons  a 
sympathetic  chambermaid  told  her  that  it  was  past 
nine  o'clock  and  a  very  fine  day.  Margot  asked 
for  a  cup  of  tea,  and  lay  quietly  back  among  her 
pillows  thinking  over  all  that  had  happened  and 
all  that  was  about  to  happen.  How  wonderful  it 
all  was  to  think  that  before  night-fall  she  would 
be  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's  wife,  the  mistress  of 
Bladensbrook ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  strange  circum- 
stances under  which  the  marriage  had  been  brought 
about,  she  was  the  most  utterly  happy  girl  to  be 
found  from  John  O'Groats  to  Land's  End.  The 
most  wonderful  thing  of  all,  her  thoughts  ran,  was 
that  Godfrey  should  be  willing  to  make  her  his 
wife — for  Margot,  you  see,  had  very  little  apprecia- 
tion of  herself.  She  had  been  used  to  herself  so 
long  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  familiarity  had  bred 
contempt  of  herself  in  her  own  mind.  Some  of 
us  are  like  that  in  this  world ;  some  of  us  are  just 
the  opposite.  One  knows  people — generally  them- 
k  10* 


114  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

selves  credited  with  extreme  shyness — whose  mar- 
vellous opinion  of  themselves  is  a  source  of  ever- 
lasting wonder  to  their  friends  and  acquaintances. 
Such  persons  always  make  me  think  of  the  quota- 
tion, "  God  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb." 
It  is  well  that  they  have  this  overwhelming  conceit, 
for  if  they  had  not  a  good  opinion  of  themselves, 
they  would  indeed  be  poor  creatures.  The  old 
Scotch  minister  who  prayed,  "  Lord,  gie  us  a  guid 
conceit  o'  oursels,"  was  a  wise  man  in  his  day  and 
generation ;  he  knew  the  full  truth  of  the  saying 
that  the  world  takes  you  very  much  at  your  own 
valuation.  Margot  Dangerfield,  however,  genuinely 
did  not  think  much  of  Margot  Dangerfield ;  and  it 
was  wonderful  to  her  that  Godfrey,  who  had  and 
would  have  the  opportunity  of  marrying  so  many 
girls,  should  have  chosen  her  of  all  to  be  his  life's 
companion.  It  must  be  confessed  that  she  looked 
forward  to  the  subsequent  explanations  which  must 
be  made  to  the  ex-queen  regent  of  Bladensbrook 
with  anything  but  relish.  If  Margot  was  afraid  of 
any  living  being  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  that  being 
was  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  her  prospective  mother-in- 
law.  However,  she  felt  that  even  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook would  understand  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  temptation  in  which  she  had  been  placed ;  and 
let  her  take  it  as  she  might,  after  -all,  it  would  be 
Godfrey  who  would  bear  the  brunt  of  whatever 
storm  might  arise  upon  the  domestic  horizon.  So 
she  lay  back  among  her  pillows  and  thought  out 
the  wonderful  change  which  had  so  unexpectedly 
come  into  her  life. 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE,  11$ 

She  was  still  lying  there  when  the  sympathetic 
chambermaid  came  back  again.  "  You  would  like 
to  get  up,  Miss  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  should  like  to  get  up,  please." 

"  You  would  like  a  bath,  Miss  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Is  there  anything  that  I  can  get  you  ?  Mrs. 
Jones  told  me  to  ask  you  if  there  was  anything 
you  wanted." 

"  I  don't  think  so,  thank  you,"  said  Margot.  "  I 
got  one  or  two  things  yesterday,  and  probably  I 
shall  get  my  box  back  this  morning,  or  what  is  left 
of  it.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  no  more  about 
the  accident  ?" 

"  No,  Miss,  I  have  heard  no  more.  The  poor 
fellow  that  was  took  to  the  orspital  died  last 
night." 

"  Oh,  who  was  it  ?" 

"  One  of  the  stokers,  Miss." 

"  Oh,  dear,  dear,  I  am  so  sorry.  It  was  an 
awful  smash.  I  was  never  in  a  railway  accident 
before.  I  hope  that  I  shall  never  be  again." 

"  Well,  Miss,"  said  the  chambermaid,  "  it  isn't 
an  experience  that  any  of  us  would  'unger  after." 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Margot;  "indeed,  no." 

"  Then  you  won't  want  the  mistress  to  lend 
you  any  pocket-handkerchers  or  anything  of  that 
kind?" 

"  No,  thank  you  ;  I  got  some  yesterday." 

The  maid  stood  reflectively  by  the  side  of  the 
bed,  and  as  Margot  spoke  she  stooped  to  the  floor 
and  picked  up  a  handkerchief  which  had  fallen 


Il6  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Curing  the  course  of  the  night.  "  That  is  a  pretty 
ankercher,  Miss,"  she  said,  as  she  laid  it  on  the  bed. 

"  Oh,  thank  you — yes — yes,  it  is  rather  pretty," 
said  Margot.  A  sudden  awful  realization  came 
over  her  of  the  fact  that  she  was  known  in  the 
hotel  as  Miss  Smith  and  that  the  handkerchief  was 
elaborately  embroidered  "  M.  D."  It  was  one  of  a 
set  which  her  old  governess,  Miss  Atkinson,  had 
\nade  for  her  last  birthday.  The  initials  were 
large  and  painfully  clear,  and  Margot  laid  her 
hand  over  it,  devoutly  hoping  that  her  face  was  not 
as  red  as  it  felt ;  she  felt,  indeed,  as  if  all  the  blood 
in  her  body  had  rushed  into  her  cheeks.  How 
could  she  have  been  such  a  fool  as  to  leave  that 
tell-tale  handkerchief  with  its  staring  monogram 
just  where  everybody  could  see  it !  "I  will  get 
up,  now,"  she  said,  almost  curtly.  "  Tell  them  to 
give  me  breakfast  in  the  sitting-room  at — well,  in 
half  an  hour's  time." 

She  thrust  the  delicate  bit  of  cambric  into  a 
place  of  safety  between  her  corsets  and  the  gar- 
ment that  came  immediately  under  them,  and 
taking  one  of  the  uncomfortable  new  ones  which 
she  had  bought  the  previous  afternoon  she  passed 
presently  into  the  cosy  sitting-room.  It  was 
rather  a  mockery  sitting  down  to  breakfast  by  her- 
self, but  still  she  was  young  and  healthy,  and  she 
ate  quite  enough  breakfast  to  satisfy  the  amour 
propre  of  the  watchful  waiter.  She  even  went  the 
length  of  asking  for  a  newspaper,  and,  having 
dawdled  away  as  much  time  as  she  possibly  could, 
she  put  on  her  hat  and,  taking  her  sunshade  in  her 


HUSBAND  AND   WIFE.  I  \J 

hand,  she  went  out  into  the  busy  little  town.  She 
returned  for  lunch  at  two  o'clock,  and  having  eaten 
a  little  she  asked  for  writing  materials;  and  wrote 
a  letter  to  her  father,  in  which  she  announced  her 
intention  of  returning  home  a  couple  of  days 
later.  She  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  make  any 
detailed  explanation  to  him.  "Aunt  Marcia  left 
yesterday  for  Italy,  and  I  am  staying  a  day  or  two 
longer.  I  shall  be  home  in  time  for  dinner ;  and  if 
you  will  send  to  the  station  to  meet  me,  that  is,  I 
think,  all." 

She  carried  this  letter  down  the  street  to  the 
post-office  herself,  and  took  the  opportunity  of 
going  in  to  enquire  whether  there  were  any  letters 
lying  there  for  her.  There  happened  to  be  two, 
both  wholly  unimportant,  and  merely  those  which 
would  have  been  sent  on  to  Mrs.  Meredith's  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  events.  As  yet  there  was  no 
reply  from  that  lady ;  but  Marcia,  knowing  how  free 
and  easy  she  was,  did  not  trouble  about  that. 
These  odds  and  ends  of  occupation  brought  her 
well  within  the  time  of  Godfrey's  arrival.  She 
sauntered  up  to  the  station  to  meet  him,  more 
because  she  had  nothing  else  to  do  than  of  any  set 
purpose ;  anything  was  better  than  staying  alone 
in  the  dull  sitting-room  of  the  hotel.  And  when 
Godfrey  arrived  he  was  radiant.  He  had  got  the 
license  without  any  trouble,  and  he  had  also 
brought  the  wedding  ring  and  several  others,  his 
marriage  gift  to  her. 

"  Now,  my  dear  child,  there  is  no  time  to  lose. 
Do  you  go  back  to  the  hotel  and  order  me  •  some- 


Il8  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

thing  to  eat — just  a  trifle — because  I  am  hungry, 
and  I  will  take  a  cab  and  find  a  friendly  parson 
without  delay.  I  have  got  the  address  of  one  here 
in  the  town  and  a  letter  to  him  from — a  letter  ?  That 
is  to  say,  a  card  from  a  chap  whom  I  met  in  the 
train.  He  says  he  is  a  good  fellow,  and  we  could 
not  have  anybody  nicer  to  help  us  at  such  a  time. 
So  I  will  go  straight  up  to  him  and  get  him  to 
arrange  it  as  soon  as  he  possibly  can." 

He  put  her  into  a  cab  and  told  the  man  where 
to  drive ;  then  got  into  another  vehicle  himself  and 
drove  off  in  quest  of  the  necessary  clergyman. 
In  less  than  half  an  hour  he  came  back  radiant  to  the 
hotel.  "  It  is  all  right,  my  dear  child !  At  five 
o'clock  we  are  to  be  at  the  church,  and  with  the 
help  of  the  pew-opener  and  her  good  man  we 
are  to  be  comfortably  and  safely  tied  up,  and 
then " 

"  And  then  for  the  row,"  said  Margot. 

"  Oh,  well,  a  row  won't  have  much  effect  on  us. 
I  don't  suppose  even  your  Aunt  Marcia  would 
raise  any  very  great  dust  on  your  side ;  and  as  for 
mine,  it  is  no  use  raising  a  dust  on  mine  ;  a  digni- 
fied acquiescence  is  the  only  demeanour  which  any 
one  is  likely  to  indulge  in." 

I  always  think  a  wedding  is  a  sad  ceremony.  I 
don't  know  why  it  should  be  so,  and  yet  one  often 
feels  more  inclined  to  shed  tears  over  a  wedding 
than  one  does  over  a  funeral.  So  often  the  young 
couple  are  like  young  bears,  with  all  their  troubles 
before  them ;  while  at  a  funeral  one  feels  so  fre- 
quently that  another  poor  struggling  soul  has  got 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE.  1 19 

over  the  worst,  has  got  the  hard  times  over,  and 
has  attained  to  the  blissful  haven  of  an  apparently 
everlasting  rest.  This  wedding  was  peculiarly  sad. 
It  took  place  in  a  gaunt,  bare,  barrack  of  a  church, 
a  gloomy  barn  of  a  building,  through  whose  dingy 
windows  the  already  waning  light  of  afternoon 
came  but  dully.  The  attire  of  neither  bride  nor 
groom  was  festive.  There  were  none  of  the 
adjuncts  and  emblems  of  marriage.  No  crowd  of 
eager  friends,  no  scent  of  costly  flowers,  no  shim- 
mering bridal  robes,  no  bevy  of  sweet-faced 
bridesmaids  ;  no,  no  ;  only  a  young  couple  in  every- 
day attire  standing  before  a  dingy  altar  and 
attended  by  a  snuffy  old  woman  in  a  poke-bonnet 
and  an  equally  snuffy  old  man  with  a  pair  of  sil- 
ver-rimmed spectacles.  Somehow  in  that  great 
echoing,  solemn  church  the  impressive  words  of 
the  marriage  service  seemed  to  fall  with  greater 
significance  than  usual.  I  think  if  marriages  were 
like  executions,  conducted  in  private,  if  these  func- 
tions were  shorn  of  everything  which  makes  them 
gay  and  festive,  the  solemn  pledges  and  promises 
which  brides  and  grooms  take  upon  themselves 
would  strike  home  more  significantly  than  they  do 
nowadays,  when  they  are  given  and  taken  in  the 
midst  of  a  grinning,  giggling,  irreverent  crowd, 
when  the  bride  is  thinking  more  of  the  set  of  her 
train  and  the  hang  of  her  veil  than  she  is  thinking 
of  her  duty  as  a  wife  to  be,  when  the  groom  is 
wondering  whether  his  best  man  will  take  proper 
care  of  his  hat  rather  than  whether  he  will  make 
the  bride  of  his  choice  a  good  husband. 


120  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Every  word  of  the  short  service  seemed  to  be 
beating  itself  into  Margot's  brain.  I  think  if  she 
had  realized  how  much  she  was  undertaking,  how 
great  and  important  a  step  marriage  really  was  to 
her,  she  would  have  hesitated  before  she  would 
have  consented  to  its  taking  place  in  that  way. 
As  it  was,  she  did  not  even  realize  the  full  value 
of  her  act  until  the  final  words  had  been  spoken 
which  bound  her  to  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  for  the 
rest  of  their  lives.  They  passed  into  the  dingy 
little  vestry  and  duly  signed  the  registers  ;  then  the 
clergyman  wished  them  every  happiness,  and  God- 
frey pushed  something  half  surreptitiously  into  his 
hand,  something  which  rustled  pleasantly. 

"  Oh,  but  this  is  not  necessary,"  said  he,  in  mild 
protest. 

"  Well,  Sir,  we  have  put  you  to  considerable 
trouble,  and  it  was  important  to  us  that  we  were 
married  to-day."  Then  he  drew  him  a  little  aside. 
"  For  a  week  or  so  I  am  anxious  that  our  mar- 
riage should  not  be  disclosed.  We  have  arranged 
the  affair  somewhat  in  a  hurry,  and  I  wish  my 
people  and  my  wife's  to  hear  of  it  from  me.  If 
you  will  be  kind  enough  not  to  speak  of  it  for  a 
week,  I  shall  be  very  grateful  to  you." 

"  Oh,  certainly,  certainly.  It  is  no  business  of 
mine — more  particularly  as  I  am  not  the  vicar,  but 
only  his  substitute.  Of  course,  if  anybody  comes 
and  wishes  to  search  the  registers  I  have  no  choice 
in  that  case.  And  the  vicar  will  see  the  registers, 
or  may  see  them,  on  his  return  home  in  a  fort- 
night's time." 


HUSBAND  AND  WIFE.  121 

"  Ah,  that  is  different.  Nobody  will  come.  The 
fact  is,  in  a  couple  of  days  our  people  will  know 
all  about  it." 

Then,  having  thanked  him  for  his  good  wishes, 
the  two  took  leave  of  the  clergyman  and  passed 
out  into  the  world  man  and  wife. 

"  I  don't  see  the  good  of  moving  on  to-night, 
Margot,"  said  Godfrey,  as  they  walked  down  the 
street.  "  It  will  be  better  on  all  accounts  if  we 
can  get  that  box  of  yours  Supposing  we  go  back 
and  pay  our  bill,  and  we  simply  go  off  to  the  Mitre, 
which  looks  to  me  a  very  good  hotel,  indeed,  and 
which  will  accommodate  us  as  well  as  any  other?" 

"  Just  as  you  like,"  said  she ;  "  but  how  can  I  go 
to  another  hotel  and  explain  about  the  railway 
accident  and  having  no  clothes  ?" 

"  I  never  thought  of  that,"  he  returned ;  "  dear 
me.  how  very  stupid  of  me.  Well,  let  us  go  off  to 
the  station  and  see  if  we  can  hear  any  news  of 
your  things." 

But  there  they  got  little  or  no  satisfaction.  They 
were  told  that  the  line  was  now  open,  that  all  the  lug- 
gage rescued  from  the  two  wrecked  trains  had 
been  carried  to  the  station  on  the  other  side  of 
the  tunnel  in  which  the  accident  had  taken  place. 
"  I  believe  there  is  a  deal  of  property  there,  Sir," 
said  the  official  who  gave  the  information ;  "  and 
the  easiest  thing  for  you  to  do  is  simply  to  go  on 
to  Ruxford  and  claim  it." 

"  Is  there  any  kind  of  a  hotel  at  Ruxford  ?" 

"Well,  there  is  a  very  decent  one,  Sir.  It  is 
nothing  out  of  the  way,  being  quite  a  small  market- 


122  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

town  ;  but  it  is  quite  a  place  to  be  made  comfortable 
for  a  few  hours." 

"  Then  the  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  go  on  to 
Ruxford." 

Accordingly  they  went  back  to  the  hotel,  paid 
their  bill,  and  packed  the  few  things  which  Margot 
had  in  a  Gladstone  bag  which  she  had  purchased 
in  Brixham. 

"  I  really  think,"  said  Margot,  "  that  the  easiest 
thing  would  be  to  give  our  own  names.  I  mean  to 
give  my  name  that  was,  because  you  see  my  box 
was  marked  '  M.  D.'  " 

"  Your  box,  my  dear,  is  a  pitiable  and  absolute 
wreck.  The  best  you  may  be  able  to  do  is  to 
claim  any  loose  belongings  that  you  may  recognize. 
Of  course,  we  can  give  our  own  names,  if  you  like. 
Perhaps  you  are  right,  and  it  will  be  the  wiser." 

However,  when  they  got  out  of  the  train  at 
Ruxford  station,  the  first  person  whom  they  saw 
was  the  very  guard  to  whom  they  had  first  spoken 
on  the  subject  of  Margot's  luggage  on  the  scene 
of  the  accident,  who  told  them  that  he  had  been 
placed  in  charge  of  the  luggage  collected  from  the 
train. 

"  I  doubt,"  said  he,  touching  his  cap,  "  that  the 
lady  will  find  but  a  sad  wreck  of  what  was  once 
her  luggage.  If  you  will  step  this  way,  Sir,  I  will 
show  you  what  there  is.  Some  of  it,  of  course, 
has  been  claimed,  but  what  is  left  is  really  a  sorry 
sight." 

He  led  the  way  round  to  the  back  of  the  station, 
and  there  in  a  large  room  was  the  greater  portion 


A    TWO  DAYS'    HONEYMOON.  12$ 

of  the  luggage  which  had  been  rescued  from  the 
wrecked  train. 

"  Oh  !"  said  Margot,  "  that  is  my  best  dress  !" 

"Ah,  I  doubt  it  won't  be  the  better  for  the 
rumplin'  it's  had  since  you  last  wore  it,  Miss,"  said 
the  guard. 

"  Oh,  did  you  ever  see  anything  like  this  ?  Oh, 
that  poor  woman's  hat !  She'll  never  be  able  to 
wear  that  any  more." 

"  She's  gone  where  they  don't  want  no  'ats,"  said 
the  guard. 

"  Oh,  was  she  killed  ?" 

"  Yes,  Miss.  I  am  sorry  to  say  she  was ;  and 
'er  poor  'usband  he  come  in  'ere  last  night  and  he 
see  'er  'at,  and  he  just  sat  down  and  cried  like  a 
child  over  it." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

A   TWO    DAYS'    HONEYMOON. 

AFTER  all,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  and  Margot 
eventually  went  back  to  Brixham.  Such  luggage 
as  was  worth  claiming  they  packed  into  a  trunk, 
hastily  bought  at  the  nearest  shop  where  such 
articles  were  procurable,  and  carried  back  with 
them.  To  Margot's  joy  the  things  at  the  bottom 
of  her  own  trunk  were  not  much  the  worse.  Her 
trinkets  and  toilet  necessaries  were  as  good  as  ever, 
and  her  dresses  were  singularly  little  damaged  ;  her 
linen,  too,  was  but  little  the  worse.  She  having1 


124  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

packed  all  these  things  into  a  modest  tin  box,  which 
was  the  best  thing  Ruxford  could  produce,  they 
took  the  next  train  to  Marley  Spa  and  drove  at 
once  to  the  Mitre  Hotel.  This  was  the  inn  or  small 
country  hotel  from  which  Godfrey  Bladensbrook 
had  telegraphed  his  address  to  the  regiment,  and 
at  first  he  had  suggested  that  they  might  as  well 
stay  there  under  their  own  names  as  go  elsewhere. 
He  went  in,  leaving  Margot  in  the  cab.  "  I  want 
you,"  he  said  to  the  manageress  whom  he  met  in 
the  hall,  "  to  retain  my  rooms  for  a  week.  I  was 
prevented  from  coming  here  to-day  as  I  had  to 
run  up  to  London,  and  am  now  staying  with  friends. 
If  any  letters  or  telegrams  come  for  me,  be  good 
enough  to  keep  them."  He  had  gone  into  the 
house  with  the  intention  of  making  sure  that  his 
rooms  were  retained  before  asking  Margot  to 
alight.  Then  it  occurred  to  him  that  it  would  be 
just  as  well  if  they  retained  the  name  under  which 
they  had  been  passing  for  the  few  days  they  would 
be  together.  He  went  back  to  the  door  of  the  cab. 
"  I  say,  dearest,"  he  said,  putting  his  head  well  in- 
side and  speaking  in  an  undertone,  "  I  really  do 
think  it  would  be  better  not  to  use  our  own  name 
for  a  day  or  two.  You  see,  these  railway  people 
may  come  after  me  at  any  time ;  and  here  I  gave 
my  own  name,  because  I  had  to  telegraph  my  ad- 
dress to  the  regiment ;  at  least,  I  wrote  to  them  from 
Blankhampton,  and  took  rooms,  thinking  I  might 
be  about  the  neighbourhood  for  a  week  or  so.  I 
think  we  had  better  go  the  King's  Arms  at  Brix- 
ham.  I  gathered  at  the  station  just  now  that  it  is 


A    TWO  DAYS'   HONEYMOON.  125 

quite  a  good  hotel,  and  we  shall  go  as  ordinary 
people.  Then  you  can  shop  and  get  your  things 
without  any  trouble,  and  we  can  get  our  letters 
from  the  post-office  and  the  Mitre.  I  can  run  over 
here  by  an  early  train  each  morning  without  the 
smallest  difficulty." 

Naturally  enough  Margot  raised  no  especial  ob- 
jection, and  so  they  went  back  to  Brixham  and 
drove  at  once  to  the  King's  Arms,  there  asking 
for  rooms  for  a  few  days.  This  was  a  very  much 
larger  and  better  hotel,  and  they  were  given  a 
pleasant  sitting-room  on  the  first  floor  overlooking 
the  market-place. 

"  This  is  really  quite  awfully  jolly,"  said  Godfrey 
to  Margot,  as  the  door  closed  behind  the  very 
smart  young  woman  who  had  shown  them  the 
way.  "  My  dearest,  I  now  begin  to  feel  for  the 
first  time  that  you  are  now  and  for  always  mine." 

To  the  head  waiter  who  ministered  to  them  half 
an  hour  later  in  the  form  of  an  excellent  dinner, 
and  the  chambermaid  who  came  to  see  that  the 
lady  had  everything  she  required,  the  young  couple 
were  a  great  source  of  mystery.  Poor  young  things, 
they  imagined  that  they  were  taken  for  quite  ordi- 
nary visitors.  They  would  have  been  considerably 
astonished  if  they  could  have  heard  themselves 
discussed  by  the  aforesaid  waiter  and  chambermaid. 

"  What  is  the  name  of  them  new  people,  Wil- 
liam?" the  lady  enquired. 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith,  of  London,"  William  said. 
"  New  married,  I  should  say." 

"  Very  new  married,  I  should  say,"  replied  Jessica, 


126  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

which  was  the  name  of  the  chambermaid.     "  A) 
the  lady's  things  is  marked  M.  D." 

"  What  sort  of  things  ?"  enquired  William. 

"  Why  her  'air-brushes  and  the  'and  glass  an* 
her  little  fid-fads  for  her  pins  and  such  like;  M.D 
in  silver  letters,  as  plain  as  a  pikestaff;  no  mistake 
about  it ;  and  his  sleeve-links  is  marked  with  \ 
crest  and  a  monygram  that  I  can't  make  'ead  noi 
tail  of,  but  not  an  '  S'  in  it;  as  to  that  I'll  take  my 
oath." 

"  Oh,  well,  well,  that's  as  may  be.  They  are  a 
good-looking  young  couple,  though." 

"  Oh,  they  are  good-looking  enough.  He  is  a 
splendid  feller,"  said  Jessica ;  "  and  she  have  got 
such  nice  manners,  so  civil  and  so  pleasant  in 
everything  she  says  to  one.  How  long  are  they 
going  to  stay,  William  ?" 

"  Oh,  that's  more  than  I  can  tell  you — a  day  or 
two." 

"What  sort  of  a  dinner  did  they  eat?"  asked 
Jessica. 

"  Oh,  middlin'.  Quite  peckish  for  a  new-married 
couple.  I  don't  know  whether  she  was  quite  so 
inclined  for  a  good  dinner  as  he  was,  but  he  kept 
saying  to  her,  '  Now,  dearest,  have  a  bit  of  this/ 
and,  '  You  had  better  try  this,  darling ;  it  is  good, 
and  I  am  sure  you  are  hungry.' " 

"  What  I  can't  make  out,"  said  Jessica,  "  is  that 
box  of  'er's.  It  ain't  in  any  sort  of  keeping  with 
'er  linen  and  'er  brushes  and  things." 

"  Well,  but  they  was  in  the  railway  accident." 

"  Oh,  then  it  ain't  'er  box  ?" 


A    TWO  DAYS1    HONEYMOON.  \2J 

"  Yes,  it  is  'er  box ;  but  it's  one  she  bought  just 
to  bring  her  things  back  in.  They  are  going  to 
get  things  just  to  carry  'em  on  in  the  morning." 

"  Oh,  then  perhaps  they  are  not  new  married." 

"  Well,  they  haven't  been  married  very  long." 

"  I'll  take  my  oath  of  that,  unless  they  was  mar- 
ried in  short  frocks  and  pinafores — well,  you  know 
what  I  mean,  William.  You  do  take  one  up  so 
sharp,  really  you  do.  Anyway,  she's  a  pretty 
creature.  It's  a  pleasure  to  do  for  such  people 
after  the  lot  that  comes  in  and  out  'ere,  people 
that  looks  upon  hotel  servants  as  dirt." 

Meantime,  Godfrey  and  Margot  having  finished 
dinner  were  sitting  at  the  wide  open  window  over- 
looking the  old  market-place.  There  was  a  couch 
drawn  to  one  side  of  the  window,  which  was  a 
French  one  and  opened  on  to  a  stone  balcony. 
The  balcony  was  radiant  with  flowers,  geraniums, 
calceolarias,  nasturtiums,  and  lobelia,  and  to  Mar- 
got,  even  in  her  anxiety  as  to  the  uproar  which 
she  naturally  expected  would  follow  their  exploits, 
the  scene  was  a  perfect  Paradise. 

"  You  know  really,  Godfrey,"  she  said  for  about 
the  twentieth  time,  "  I  do  feel  most  awfully  fright- 
ened when  I  think  of  what  every  one  will  say." 

"  My  dearest  child,"  he  said,  holding  her  quite 
close  to  him  and  smiling  at  her  fears,  "  you  seem 
to  have  forgotten  one  thing — there  is  nobody  in 
the  world  who  can  make  you  afraid  now.  You  are 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"I  don't  think,"  said  she,  "that  I  shall  ever 
really  feel  like  Mrs.  Bladensbrook." 


128  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  replied,  in  reassuring  yet  master- 
ful tones ;  "  in  twelve  months'  time,  my  dear  child, 
you  will  feel  very  much  like  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
and  in  as  many  years  you  will  feel  as  if  you  had 
been  born  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  One  so  soon  gets 
used  to  any  new  position  in  this  world ;  and  after 
all,  whatever  happens,  we  shall  always  have  the 
joy  of  remembering  that  these  few  precious  days 
were  ours — ours  alone ;  that  they  were  shared  by  no 
one  else.  They  belong  to  you  and  to  me  alone ; 
nobody  else  even  knows  of  them." 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Brixham  was  an  ideal 
place  for  a  young  couple's  honeymoon.  It  was  a 
large,  busy,  populous,  manufacturing  town  ;  it  could 
not  even  boast  of  being  the  county  town  of  the 
shire  in  which  it  stood.  Twenty  years  before 
Brixham  had  been  a  mere  village  ;  it  now  boasted 
a  great  net-work  of  busy  streets  peopled  by  a 
swarm  of  human  bees.  There  was  little  loafing 
and  next  to  no  cadging  in  busy  Brixham, — men, 
women,  and  children  were  all  intent  on  the  business 
of  money-making,  and  of  the  few  private  people 
who  lived  there  each  and  all  were  retired,  or,  as  in 
the  case  of  Mrs.  Blake,  the  widows  of  those  who 
had  been  in  business  in  the  town.  Staying  there 
was  in  itself  something  of  a  risk  for  Margot,  but, 
as  she  wisely  remarked  to  Godfrey,  not  a  soul 
likely  to  be  on  visiting  terms  with  her  aunt  would 
remain  in  the  town  during  that  particular  month 
of  the  year.  Her  aunt,  for  instance,  who  had  gone 
off  to  Italy  by  way  of  Geneva,  had  complained 
most  bitterly  during  the  last  ten  days  of  her  stay 


A    TWO  DAYS   HONEYMOON.  129 

that  never  before  had  she  slept  in  Brixham  after 
the  first  of  August,  and  that  under  no  circum- 
stances would  she  ever  again  do  a  similar  thing. 
She  had  more  than  once  professed  herself  devoutly 
thankful  to  Providence  that  she  was  not  likely  to 
be  seen  by  anybody  who  knew  her,  and  she  said 
several  times  that  she  should  stay  away  at  least 
six  months — probably  for  eight  or  nine — in  order 
that  she  might  be  asked  no  question  as  to  the 
actual  date  of  her  leaving  home. 

So  these  two  remained  in  the  quiet  hotel,  taking 
all  their  meals  in  their  own  room,  sitting  a  good 
deal  on  the  balcony,  which  was  discreetly  shaded 
besides  being  screened  with  flowers,  and  dreaming 
long,  delicious,  golden  dreams  of  the  brilliant  and 
happy  future  which  spread  itself  out  so  alluringly 
before  them.  On  the  third  day,  the  day  on  which 
Margot  had  promised  to  go  home,  Godfrey  Bla- 
densbrook  found  a  letter  at  the  Mitre  Hotel  which 
had  been  forwarded  to  him  among  others  from 
his  regiment.  It  was  from  his  mother,  and  was 
strangely  unlike  her  firm,  decisive,  well-rounded 
sentences. 

"I  have  a  strange  foreboding  of  coming  ill," 
she  wrote.  "  I  don't  know  why  I  should  have, 
because  everything  here  is  pretty  much  as  usual, 
and  if  anything  were  wrong  with  you,  I  feel  sure 
that  I  should  have  heard  it  before  this.  I  am 
almost  afraid  that  something  has  gone  wrong  with 
my  heart.  I  seem  to  have  such  sudden  attacks  of 
faintness,  and  they  come  on  me  most  often  in  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning,  when  everything  is  still 


I3O  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN, 

and  not  a  soul  is  moving  in  this  great  house.  You 
cannot  imagine  what  a  horrid,  dreary,  weird  feel- 
ing it  is  to  have  this  sudden  fluttering  of  one's 
heart,  this  sudden  feeling  as  it  were  like  a  hand 
gripping  at  one's  vitality.  I  am  not  nervous,  as 
you  know ;  but  if  you  can  possibly  get  a  few  days' 
leave  and  will  come  up  to  town  to  meet  me,  I  will 
go  next  Monday.  I  shall  stay  at  the  Alexandra ; 
it  is  so  near  to  the  green  of  the  Park,  and  at  this 
time  of  year  one  wants  greenery  before  all  else. 
You  might  send  me  a  wire  to  say  whether  you 
will  meet  me  there  or  not" 

Without  waiting  to  go  back  to  the  King's  Arms 
and  to  consult  Margot,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook 
turned  straight  into  the  post-office  and  wired  to 
his  man-servant  at  Blankhampton :  "  Wire  in  my 
name  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  at  Bladensbrook,"  he 
said,  "  and  say  that,  if  possible,  I  will  meet  her  in 
London  on  Monday."  Having  sent  this  off,  he 
felt  a  little  more  easy  and  went  back  to  the  King's 
Arms,  where  he  found  Margot  busily  engaged  in 
packing  her  belongings  in  a  new  trunk  as  nearly  a 
counterpart  of  the  one  which  had  been  wrecked  in 
the  tunnel  as  they  had  been  able  to  procure. 

"  My  dearest,"  he  said  to  her,  "  I  have  a  piece 
of  rather  unpleasant  news  to  tell  you." 

"Oh,  Godfrey!"  she  cried,  clasping  her  hands 
together ;  "  what  is  it  ?" 

"They  haven't  found  anything  out — not  a 
word,  not  a  thing — but  here  is  a  letter  from  my 
mother.  You  see,  she  seems  to  have  got  some- 
thing wrong  with  her  heart.  I  cannot  refuse  to  go 


A    TWO  DAYS'    HONEYMOON.  131 

to  London,  and  under  the  circumstances  I  know 
perfectly  well  that  I  shall  be  able  to  get  leave,  even 
if  it  is  only  for  the  one  night ;  but  I  must  ask  you 
to  keep  our  secret  for  a  few  days  longer  for  this 
reason.  I  cannot  possibly  go  and  break  it  to  her  in 
the  face  of  such  a  letter  as  this.  You  know  with 
flutterings  and  faintnesses  and  such  like  things, 
sometimes  it  may  be  laid  at  the  door  of  indigestion 
and  dyspepsia.  Goodness  knows,  it  seems  too  funny 
to  think  of  my  mother  being  troubled  with  either 
one  or  the  other !  Of  course,  it  may  not  be  more 
serious  than  that.  I  should  like  to  go  up  and  meet 
her,  see  what  the  doctor  says,  and,  if  a  favourable 
opportunity  of  telling  her  occurs  before  I  come 
back,  I  shall  take  it." 

"  Of  course,"  said  Margot,  "  you  must  do  what 
you  think  best  about  that.  After  all,  a  few  days 
more  or  less  will  make  no  difference  to  anybody. 
I  don't  suppose  that  anybody  at  home  will  notice 
that  my  things  are  different,  or  will  dream  that  I 
have  not  come  straight  from  Aunt  Marcia's  house. 
At  all  events,  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  I 
must  just  bear  it  until  you  come  and  rescue 
me." 

"  I  think,"  he  said,  "  that  I  had  better  give  you 
some  money,  that  you  may  get  yourself  some  more 
dresses  and  replace  those  that  were  damaged.  I 
don't  want  to  change  a  cheque  here — indeed, 
they  would  not  have  changed  a  big  cheque  here 
— so  I  went  to  the  bank  the  other  morning  and 
they  got  me  some  money  from  town,  from  my 
own  bank,  that  is.  Here  are  one  hundred  pounds. 


132  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

I  brought  fifty  pounds  in  gold  and  fifty  pounds  in 
notes." 

"  I  shall  not  want  so  much,"  said  Margot 

"  Well,  you  had  better  take  it.  One  never  knows 
what  may  happen,  and  you  might  chance  to  want 
something  between  this  and  the  next  ten  days,  and 
I  would  rather  that  you  had  plenty  of  money  by 
you." 

"  I  will  get  a  couple  of  dresses,"  said  she ;  "  but 
the  notes  I  will  keep  until  we  meet  again." 

"  As  you  like  about  that.  Of  course,  you  will 
be  able  to  get  as  many  dresses  as  you  want  as 
soon  as  the  real  position  of  things  is  announced." 

She  put  the  money  away  in  her  purse,  and 
making  the  notes  into  a  parcel  in  her  handker- 
chief she  thrust  them  into  her  bosom. 

"  I  shall  stay  here  to-night,"  he  said,  "  and  go 
back  to  Blankhampton  to-morrow ;  see  if  I  cannot 
get  my  leave,  and  go  to  London  on  Monday  morn- 
ing. And  you  will  write  to  me?" 

"  Well,  I  shall  not  get  home  until  after  the  post 
has  gone  out,  dear,"  said  Margot ;  "  and  there  is 
no  Sunday  post  at  Bladensbrook,  you  know." 

"  Then  write  to  me  on  Monday,  and  address  me 
to  the  Alexandra  Hotel.  And  now  I  think  it  is 
time  I  saw  you  safely  off  on  your  journey." 


A   MYSTERY.  133 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

A    MYSTERY. 

LOOKING  back,  Margot  afterwards  regarded 
that  journey  homewards  as  one  of  the  most 
anxious  and  wretched  times  which  she  had  ever 
experienced.  She  felt  guilty;  she  felt  that  she 
was  going  home  to  be  found  out;  she  had  no 
realization  of  being  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  Godfrey's 
wife ;  she  only  felt  that  she  was  in  for  the  biggest 
thing  in  the  shape  of  a  row  which  she  had  ever 
experienced.  She  felt  as  if  her  doings  of  the  last 
few  days  were  branded  upon  her  forehead,  that 
nobody  could  look  at  her  without  perceiving  the 
change  in  her.  The  Margot  who  was  going  back 
was  not  the  Margot  who  had  come  away  from  the 
simple  country  Rectory ;  it  was  a  new  Margot.  It 
was  not  the  lady  regnant  of  Bladensbrook ;  it  was 
a  frightened,  nervous,  and  miserable  little  girl  who 
was  inevitably  to  be  found  out.  But  when  she  got 
to  the  end  of  her  journey  and  had  reached  her 
destination,  she  found  everything  had  turned  out 
quite  differently  to  what  her  anxious  anticipations 
had  conjectured.  The  stanhope  was  at  the  station 
to  meet  her,  and  in  reply  to  her  eager  enquiry  as 
to  how  the  Rector  was,  old  Thomas  replied  that 
he  was  but  sadly. 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?"  Margot  asked,  in  alarm. 

"  I  don't  know,  Miss ;  but  I  doubt  the  Rector  is 


134  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

not  the  man  he  was.  He  seems  dull  and  dreary- 
like,  as  if  he  had  no  spirit  to  rouse  himself  and  do 
anything;  and  there  he  sits  in  that  study  poring 
over  that  great  book  and  all  them  sheets  of  writin' 
until  my  brains  feel  addled  to  think  of  it." 

"  Ah,  but  my  father  is  used  to  it,"  said  Margot, 
as  she  climbed  into  the  stanhope  and  took  the 
reins. 

"  Well,  yes,  Miss,  there's  no  gainsaying  that ;  but 
he  is  looking  very  sadly  this  last  few  days,  very 
sadly,  indeed." 

"  Have  you  any  other  news,  Thomas  ?"  Margot 
asked,  as  they  turned  out  of  the  station-yard. 

"  Well,  I  did  hear  the  mistress  at  the  Hall  was 
not  at  all  well.  She  swounded  away  once  or  twice, 
and  they  had  rather  a  work  to  get  her  to  last 
time." 

"  Oh,  you  don't  say  that !"  said  Margot,  feigning 
a  great  surprise. 

"Yes,  Miss,  that's  what  they  tell  me.  I  see 
Long  Tom  this  mornin'  from  the  Hall,  and  he  tell 
me  they  were  all  in  a  rare  taking  about  it.  I  believe 
the  mistress  is  going  to  London  on  Monday  to  get 
device." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that,"  said  Margot,  simu- 
lating her  surprise  very  cleverly. 

Arrived  at  the  Rectory,  she  found  all  was  peace 
and  quietness  and  ignorance.  The  Rector  was  in 
his  roomy  old  study  with  the  long  French  win- 
dows opening  on  to  a  wide  veranda,  which  was 
occupied  at  that  moment  by  half  a  dozen  lounging 
chairs  and  a  couple  of  wicker  tables. 


A   MYSTERY,  135 

"  Ah,  my  child,  is  that  you  ?"  he  asked,  as  Mar- 
got  put  her  bright  face  in  at  the  door.  "  I  have 
missed  you  more  than  I  can  say ;  nobody  knows  how 
much  ;  and  right  glad  I  am  to  get  you  back  again." 

"Dear  Daddy,"  said  Margot,  putting  her  arm 
round  his  shoulder,  "  I  have  come  back,  again  like 
a  bad  ha'penny.  It  is  a  shame." 

"  What !  that  you  are  come  back  again,  or  that 
you  are  come  back  again  like  a  bad  ha'penny  ?" 
said  the  Rector,  smiling  at  her. 

"  Oh,  that  I  have  come  back  at  all,  still  less  that 
I  have  come  back  like  a  bad  ha'penny.  But, 
Daddy,  dear,  have  you  had  any  tea  ?" 

"  No  ;  I  waited  for  you." 

"  Then  we  will  have  tea  at  once."  She  rang  the 
bell  and  ordered  it,  then  sat  down  upon  the  edge 
of  his  solid  oak  writing-table  and  went  on  chat- 
ting. "  And  how  is  every  one  ?  Everything  going 
on  pretty  much  as  usual,  I  suppose.  What's  this 
I  hear  about  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ?" 

"  Ah,  poor  soul — poor  soul,"  said  the  Rector, 
laying  down  his  pen  and  staring  in  a  far-away 
manner  at  his  daughter,  "  I  am  afraid  she  is  in 
very  indifferent  kind  of  health.  People  may  be 
ill,  you  know,  very  ill,  and  yet  it  may  be  nothing 
that  really  alarms  one  ;  but  when  a  woman  of  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook's  age  begins  to  have  faintings  and 
flutterings  of  the  heart,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing, 
it  makes  it  a  very  anxious  piece  of  business.  Oh, 
my  dear  child,  I  have  missed  you  very  much,  and 
I  hope  you  won't  go  away  again  for  a  very  long 
time." 


136  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"I  don't  know,  Daddy,"  said  Margot,  who  had, 
it  must  be  remembered,  the  intention  of  going 
away  for  a  very  long  time  at  no  very  distant 
period. 

"  Somehow  the  house  is  not  the  same  without 
you.  I  always  feel,  when  you  are  away  for  a  few 
days  or  even  a  few  hours,  that  there  is  something 
missing,  that  I  have  lost  something.  See  what  it 
is  to  be  indispensable,  my  dear;  but  don't  let  it 
make  you  too  conceited." 

"  Daddy,"  said  Margot,  slipping  off  the  table 
and  going  towards  the  window,  "  you  will  come 
out  and  have  your  tea,  won't  you  ?" 

"  Yes,  my  dear ;  yes,  yes." 

"And  the  book,  Daddy?"  said  Margot. 

"The  book,  did  you  say?  Oh,  it  gets  on,  but 
very  slowly.  I  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  in- 
clination to  work  in  a  way  that  one  really  calls 
work,  but  I  sit  here  and  I  potter  at  it ;  but  it  is 
only  pottering,  my  child ;  it  is  only  pottering,  and 
one  never  turns  out  much  of  the  world's  work  in 
that  way." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,  dear ;  you  have  worked 
very  hard  at  that  old  book.  I  don't  believe  it  will 
ever  repay  you." 

"  Perhaps  not ;  but  some  day,  when  your  old 
Daddy  is  dead  and  gone,  you  will  be  able  to  look 
back  and  think,  '  He  wrote  the  greatest  book  on 
architectural  embellishments  that  is  to  be  found  in 
the  whole  world.'  " 

Margot  dropped  the  tongs  back  upon  the  sugar 
basin  and  stretched  out  a  little  trembling  hand 


A   MYSTERY.  137 

towards  her  old  father.  "  Dear  Daddy,"  she  said, 
"  when  that  day  comes  I  shall  not  remember  you 
by  your  book.  I  shall  always  be  proud  of  you, 
always  be  proud  of  everything  that  you  have  done ; 
but  I  shall  remember  you  first  and  last  as  my  own 
dear  old  Daddy.  After  all,  however  valuable  the 
book  may  be  and  however  famous  it  may  make 
you,  you  will  always  be  Daddy  to  us,  first  and  last, 
just  the  same." 

"  My  dear  little  girl,"  said  the  old  Rector ;  "  my 
dear  little  girl" 

They  had  quite  a  merry  tea  after  this,  with  fruit 
and  cream  and  cakes,  and  even  with  a  plateful  of 
fat  rascals. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  Margot,  "  we  never  had 
such  a  tea  as  this  at  Brixham." 

"  Didn't  you,  though  ?  And  does  Marcia  keep 
the  austere  table  that  she  used  to  do  ?" 

"  Yes,  dear — worse.  She  says  that  eating  is 
fleshly  and  ought  to  be  suppressed.  Aunt  Marcia 
never  suppresses  her  own  eating.  She  preaches 
and  other  people  practice." 

"  Ah,"  laughed  the  Rector,  "  that  is  Marcia  all 
over.  Ton  my  word  I  never  did  wonder,  fond  as 
I  am  of  Marcia — my  dear,  I  wouldn't  say  a  word 
against  my  own  sister?  is  it  likely? — but  I  never 
wondered  that  poor  old  Blake  died.  She  used  to 
dragoon  him  in  really  terrible  fashion.  Poor  old 
chap,  never  a  pipe  did  he  have  in  peace ;  never  an 
afternoon  snooze  did  he  have  without  interruption, 
unless  she  was  away.  He  did  have  a  life,  and  no 
mistake  about  it.  So  she  has  gone  off  to  Italy. 

12* 


138  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

What  made  her  go  off  to  Italy  at  this  time  of 
year  ?" 

"  Well,  Daddy,  she  has  really  gone  to  Geneva. 
She  is  going  to  stay  at  Geneva  until  the  weather 
turns  chilly,  and  then  she  is  going  to  Italy." 

"  Did  it  ever  strike  you,"  said  the  Rector,  in  a 
mysterious  tone,  "that  she  would  have  liked  to 
have  gone  to  Italy  with  us  ?" 

"  Yes,  Daddy.  I  think  Aunt  Marcia  was  bitterly 
offended  that  we  did  not  ask  her  to  join  us." 

"  Ah,  well,"  said  the  Rector,  stirring  his  tea 
round  and  round,  "  I  never  mind  Marcia's  coming 
here ;  I  never  mind  Marcia  when  I  have  got  my  own 
study  at  hand  in  which  I  can  barricade  myself  with 
sermons ;  but  Marcia  in  a  foreign  hotel ;  Marcia 
sniffing  at  the  foreign  cooking  and  sprawling  about 
on  the  foreign  floors  and  screeching  at  the  foreign 
beggars,  and  generally  making,  everything  and 
everybody  extremely  uncomfortable,  is  beyond  my 
powers  of  endurance.  Do  you  think  she  realized 
that,  or  did  she  think  it  was  an  oversight  ?" 

"  Aunt  Marcia  didn't  think  it  was  an  oversight, 
Daddy,"  said  Margot,  her  face  dimpling  all  over. 
"Aunt  Marcia  expressed  herself  in  the  strongest 
and  plainest  terms  on  the  subject.  '  I  don't  under- 
stand people,'  she  said,  very  pointedly,  '  who  can 
ask  one  to  pay  them  interminable  visits  in  dull 
country  rectories  which  are  not  half  as  comfortable 
as  one's  own  suitable  domicile.  I  should  under- 
stand a  relation  who  really  cared  for  one  offering 
to  make  a  journey  together.  I  should  have  been 
pleased  to  share  expenses,'  she  added." 


A   MYSTERY.  139 

"Oh,  did  she ?  Dear  me !  Well,  if  she  stays 
away  six  months  this  time ;  did  you  say  six 
months,  Margot?" 

"  Six  or  seven  or  eight  or  nine  months,  dear." 
"  Well,  if  she  stays  away  as  long  as  that,  she 
won't  want  to  go  away  again  very  soon,  at  least  I 
should  think  not.  I  am  glad  she  has  gone  to 
Italy.  I  didn't  want  to  go  to  Italy  this  winter.  I 
wanted  to  go  to  Biarritz  and  see  a  little  of  the 
Basque  country,  and  perhaps  a  little  of  the  Pyr- 
enees. I  don't  think  Marcia  would  care  about 
that,  would  she  ?  And  next  winter,  if  we  have  to 
go  away  again,"  which  was  a  delicate  way  of  say- 
ing if  he  were  still  alive,  "  I  am  particularly  anxious 
to  go  to  Greece.  It  would  please  me  very  much. 
I  shouldn't  say  that  Marcia  would  care  about  going 
to  Greece,  Margot?" 

"  I  really  don't  know,  dear.  I  should  say  not." 
So  Margot's  first  chat  with  her  father  passed 
over  without  any  suspicion  entering  his  mind  that 
things  were  not  quite  as  they  seemed.  It  was  not 
until  she  got  up-stairs  again,  when  she  went  to 
change  her  dress  for  dinner,  that  she  realized  that, 
although  you  can  usually  blind  a  man,  it  is  not  as 
easy  a  task  to  blind  a  woman.  The  housemaid, 
Nancy,  who  had  been  at  the  Rectory  since  long 
before  Margot  was  born,  was  in  her  room,  occupied 
in  putting  away  her  things.  •  "  Why,  Miss  Margot," 
she  remarked,  as  soon  as  the  girl  put  her  head  into 
the  room,  "  you  have  got  a  new  trunk." 

"  Yes,  I  have,  Nancy,"  said  Margot ;  "  my  own 
happened  an  accident,  and  I  bought  a  new  one." 


140  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  And  you  never  had  your  initials  put  on,  Miss  ?" 

"  No,  I  didn't.     I  only  got  it  at  the  last  minute." 

"There,  now!  And  you  have  only  brought 
about  half  your  things  home  with  you." 

"  Have  I,  Nancy  ?"  said  Margot. 

"  That  indeed  you  haven't.  There's  your  black 
silk  dress  is  missin'  and  your  white  satin.  What 
have  you  done  with  them  ?" 

"  I  got  them  both  spoilt,  Nancy." 

"  Why,  however  did  that  happen  ?"  asked  the 
maid,  turning  upon  Margot,  with  the  deepest 
interest. 

"  Well,  they  both  got  spoiled,"  said  Margot ; 
"  and  it  was  no  use  bringing  home  the  fragments, 
so  I  left  them  behind.  I  am  going  into  Exhamp- 
ton  to-morrow  to  get  a  couple  of  new  dresses." 

"  You  have  got  a  new  umbrella  and  a  new  sun- 
shade!" said  Nancy,  who  seemed  determined  to  go 
on  with  the  subject  to  the  bitter  end. 

"  Yes,  I  know.  I  lost  them,"  said  Margot.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  Margot  had  left  them  in  the  railway 
carriage  in  the  tunnel  between  Brixham  and  Rux- 
ford,  but  she  could  not  very  well  tell  Nancy  that. 
"  I  lost  them,  Nancy,  and  had  to  get  new  ones." 

"  Dear  me,  you  didn't  used  to  be  so  careless, 
Miss  Margot,"  was  Nancy's  astonished  remark. 
"  To  spoil  your  two  best  dresses  and  lose  your 
umbrella  and  your  sunshade  !  I  can't  make  head 
nor  tail  of  it" 

"  Well,  Nancy,  it  isn't  necessary  that  you  should 
make  head  or  tail  of  it.  I  spoilt  the  one  and  I 
lost  the  other ;  and  I  am  going  to  buy  new  ones 


A    MYSTERY.  141 

to  replace  them.  Really,  Nancy,  you  are  very  in- 
quisitive." 

"  Not  at  all,  Miss  Margot ;  but  I  wait  upon  you 
and  I  put  your  things  away,  and  I  wondered  where 
they  were." 

"  Well,  they  are  gone,  my  dear  Nancy,  and  you 
will  never  see  any  of  them  again ;  neither  shall  I. 
It's  no  use  crying  over  spilt  milk,  Nancy." 

She  quickly  changed  her  dress  and  got  out  of 
the  old  servant's  way.  So  that  evening  passed 
over  without  any  more  comments.  Mr.  Danger- 
field  did  not  ask  one  single  embarrassing  question, 
and  Margot  took  care  that  she  did  not  put  herself 
in  the  way  of  further  gratifying  Nancy's  curiosity. 

The  following  day  was  bright  and  fair,  a  late 
August  day,  with  the  scent  of  roses  everywhere 
and  a  certain  sense  of  sleepy  luxuriousness  hang- 
ing over  everything.  She  saw  as  soon  as  she 
entered  the  church  that  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  in 
her  accustomed  seat,  looking  very  much  the  same 
as  usual,  but  a  trifle  pale  and  bright  about  the  eyes. 
She  saw,  too,  that  she  was  not  alone  in  the  great 
square  pew  as  was  her  custom,  but  that  her  maid, 
a  staid,  lady-like  looking  woman  of  some  forty 
years  old,  sat  in  the  opposite  corner.  It  was  the 
first  time  that  she  had  ever  seen  a  servant  in  the 
Bladensbrook  family  pew.  Evidently  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook was  afraid  of  one  of  these  new  attacks 
of  faintness  coming  upon  her  during  the  service. 
As  usual,  the  lady  of  the  manor  and  the  Rector's 
daughter  went  out  by  the  little  chancel-door  into 
the  glorious  summer  sunshine. 


142  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Ah,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  hold- 
ing out  her  hand,  "  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  back 
again.  Your  father  has  missed  you  very  much. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  look  after  him  quite  like  a 
mother." 

"  Oh,  how  good  of  you  !"  cried  Margot,  who 
with  the  weight  of  her  secret  full  in  her  mind  felt 
doubly  indebted  towards  this  gracious  lady  who, 
whatever  her  own  pain  or  weakness,  never  forgot 
those  who  were  near  to  her. 

"  And  how  did  you  leave  Mrs.  Blake  ?" 

"  Oh,  she  has  gone  to  Geneva,"  said  Margot. 

"  Really  ?     Did  she  leave  before  you  ?" 

"  Yes,  a  little  while.  She  is  going  to  stay  away 
a  long  time ;  all  the  winter,  and  perhaps  longer." 

"  And  she  went  before  you  ?" 

"  Well,  you  see,  I  meant  to  pay  another  visit  to 
some  very  dear  friends  of  mine  about  fifty  miles 
from  Auntie;  and  just  at  the  last  minute  I  had  a 
letter  from  Father  in  which  he  seemed  so  moped 
and  so  lonely  without  me  that  I  thought  I  had 
better  give  it  up  and  come  straight  home,  so  I  put 
off  my  visit." 

"  That  was  very  good  of  you.  I  am  glad  you 
did  that,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  in  her  most 
gracious  accents ;  "  because  you  know,  my  dear, 
you  have  only  one  father,  and  now  that  your  dear 
mother  is  gone  he  is  very  lonely.  You  ought  to 
make  very  much  of  him." 

"  I  am  very  fond  of  my  Daddy,"  said  Margot, 
with  a  suspicious  choking  in  her  throat. 

"  I  am  going  to  London  to-morrow,"  said  Mrs. 


A   MYSTERY.  143 

Bladensbrook  as  they  reached  the  gate  where  her 
carriage  was  standing.  "  I  have  not  been  very  well, 
dear,  lately,  and  I  am  going  to  see  my  doctor. 
Godfrey  will  meet  me  in  town.  Come  and  dine  with 
me  to-night  if  the  Rector  will  bring  you.  It  will 
do  him  good,  and  I  shall  be  very  glad  of  your 
company." 

For  a  moment  Margot  felt  as  if  the  very  earth 
must  open  and  swallow  her.  She,  who  knew 
Godfrey's  movements  much  better  than  his  mother 
did,  to  be  having  this  told  to  her  as  a  piece  of  news 
was  too  dreadful  to  one  of  her  open  and  candid 
mind. 

"  I  suppose  I  may  take  all  sorts  of  messages 
from  you  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  with  a  last 
gracious  wave  of  her  hand,  and  Margot  gave  a 
sort  of  smile  and  a  strange  tremulous  gesture 
which  might  have  passed  for  one  of  acquiescence, 
but  she  spoke  no  word ;  indeed,  her  lips  positively 
refused  to  utter  a  single  sentence. 

It  was  a  time  of  torture  to  her  that  evening  be- 
cause her  father  at  once  joyfully  acquiesced  in 
the  invitation,  and  they  walked  up  to  the  House 
together  in  the  cool  of  the  delightful  summer  even- 
ing. And  the  first  thing  which  greeted  her  in  the 
morning  was  the  sight  of  Nancy  standing  by  her 
bed  with  a  little  tray  on  which  was  a  cup  of  tea,  a 
bit  of  toast,  and  a  letter  addressed  in  a  handwriting 
somewhat  resembling  Godfrey's.  She  tore  it  open 
eagerly.  It  contained  but  these  few  words,  "  My 
dearest,  don't  write  at  all  until  you  hear  from  me. 
On  no  account  disclose  anything"  of  wKat  has 


144  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

passed,  and  don't  part  with  the  notes  which  I  gave 
you.  If  necessary,  destroy  them  ;  in  that  case  only 
destroy  them  by  burning.  When  we  meet  I  will 
explain  everything  to  you.  Forgive  me  for  putting 
this  ban  upon  you  ;  but  I  have  only  two  minutes  to 
decide  in,  and  it  is  the  only  way  I  can  see  to  get 
you  out  of  the  difficulty  in  which  I  find  myself. 
Always  your  true,  loving,  and  devoted  Godfrey." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

ABSENT   WITHOUT   LEAVE. 

IT  was  but  natural  that  the  receipt  of  such  a 
letter  filled  Margot's  mind  with  many  and  strange 
conjectures.  During  the  whole  of  that  lovely  sum- 
mer day  she  went  about  the  Rectory  and  the  old 
garden  wondering  what  in  the  world  could  be  the 
meaning  of  a  communication  so  mysterious  and 
yet  so  vague.  In  what  difficulty  could  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook  have  found  himself?  Possibly  it 
was  something  connected  with  the  railway  acci- 
dent ;  and  yet  it  could  hardly  be  that :  possibly  he 
had  been  sent  for  from  his  regiment ;  and  yet  that 
was  hardly  likely.  She  thought  and  puzzled  and 
wondered,  but  all  her  tangle  of  conjecture  brought 
her  no  nearer  to  the  actual  truth.  When  night- 
fall came,  she  was  still  as  much  in  the  dark  as  she 
had  been  at  the  beginning  of  the  day.  Nothing, 
she  thought,  could  have  happened  to  Godfrey, 


ABSENT  WITHOUT  LEAVE.  145 

because  she  had  seen  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  drive  past 
on  her  way  to  the  station,  and  that  gracious  lady 
had  waved  her  hand  with  many  smiles  and  just 
her  usual  suavity  of  manner.  What  could  such  a 
difficulty  be  ?  It  must  have  been  something  con- 
nected with  the  railway  accident.  But  wondering 
and  fretting  and  speculating  were  all  of  no  use. 
She  wandered  about  idly  during  the  whole  morn- 
ing, and  after  lunch  she  went  off  in  her  pony-cart 
to  try  to  kill  time  that  way.  She  had  half  an  idea 
that  there  might  be  a  letter  by  the  second  post ; 
for  there  was  a  second  post  at  Bladensbrook,  not 
in  the  regular  order  of  things,  but  because  any 
letters  for  the  Rectory  were  always  included  in 
the  afternoon  bag  for  the  House.  She  stayed  out 
until  very  near  to  dinner-time,  but  no  letter  greeted 
her  on  her  arrival  home.  She  dressed  and  spent 
the  evening  very  much  as  usual,  going  to  bed 
somewhat  early;  and  as  soon  as  she  was  safely 
locked  within  the  shelter  of  her  own  room  she  took 
out  the  notes  which  Godfrey  had  given  her.  Why 
was  she  not  to  use  those  notes  ?  Of  course,  for 
some  reason  connected  with  their  numbers.  She 
made  them  into  a  very  small  parcel,  sealed  it  care- 
fully, and  put  it  away  in  a  small  secret  drawer  be- 
longing to  her  jewel  case.  It  was  a  case  which 
she  had  bought  with  her  own  money  about  a  year 
previously.  She  had  chanced  to  pick  it  up  in 
Milan,  and  it  really  was  a  secret  drawer,  one  which 
she  had  not  herself  found  out  for  some  months 
after  the  case  had  come  into  her  possession.  Girl- 
like,  having  no  secrets  to  guard,  she  had  carefully 
G  k  13 


146  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

kept  the  secret  of  the  little  drawer,  so  that  she 
was  not  in  the  least  afraid  that  any  one  would  find 
it  out. 

The  following  day  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  returned 
home,  and  the  Rector  chancing  to  meet  her  on  her 
way  from  the  station  heard  and  brought  the  news 
to  Margot  that  Godfrey  had  failed  to  meet  her  in 
London,  and  had  not  given  her  any  explanation  of 
his  non-appearance.  "  I  cannot  understand  why 
he  did  not  come,"  she  had  said  to  him.  "  I  had  a 
telegram  from  him  saying  that  he  would  meet  me 
at  the  Alexandra ;  but  he  not  only  did  not  come, 
but  he  never  telegraphed  or  wrote  his  reason.  I 
have  just  sent  off  a  telegram  to  Blankhampton  to 
make  sure  that  he  is  not  ill.  Godfrey  is  quite  one 
to  say  nothing  if  he  were  seized  with  illness,  for 
fear  of  agitating  me,  and  really  I  do  feel  most  in- 
tensely anxious." 

Later  in  the  evening  the  brougham  came  down 
from  the  House  with  a  note  begging  the  Rector  to 
come  up  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  without  a  moment's 
delay.  The  Rector  and  Margot  had  but  just  fin- 
ished dinner,  and  he  set  off  at  once,  leaving  his 
daughter  with  a  sinking  heart  and  with  an  awful 
feeling  of  coming  disaster  weighing  heavily  upon 
her.  She  had  to  endure  two  hours  of  anguish  be- 
fore the  carriage  was  heard  bringing  her  father 
back  again.  "  What  was  the  matter,  Daddy  ?" 
she  asked,  coming  out  into  the  hall. 

"  Really,  my  dear  child,  I  can  hardly  tell  you," 
was  his  reply.  She  heard  from  his  tone  that,  what- 
ever the  matter  was,  it  was  nothing  personal  to  her- 


ABSENT  WITHOUT  LEAVE.  147 

self,  that  so  far   nothing   had   come  out  of  their 
escapade  together. 

Mr.  Dangerfield  went  into  the  drawing-room  and 
closed  the  door  after  Margot.  "  My  dear  child," 
he  said,  "it  is  really  most  extraordinary.  Mrs, 
Bladensbrook  wrote  to  young  Godfrey,  told  him 
how  ill  she  was,  and  asked  him  to  meet  her  in  town 
yesterday." 

"  Yes,  I  know  that,"  said  Margot ;  "  she  told  me." 
"  Well,  he  telegraphed  back  to  say  that  he  would 
come  to  the  hotel  some  time  during  Monday.  She 
went  there,  but  he  never  turned  up  at  all.  She 
naturally  concluded  that  duty  of  some  kind  had 
kept  him  back,  and  that  she  would  have  a  letter 
the  next  morning.  She  had  no  letter.  She  there- 
fore went  to  see  the  doctor,  and,  according  to  her 
original  plan,  returned  home  thinking  that  she 
would  find  a  letter.  However,  when  she  reached 
Exhampton,  it  occurred  to  her  that  the  wisest 
thing  was  to  telegraph  to  Godfrey  at  Blankhamp- 
ton  to  know  if  anything  was  wrong  with  him.  She 
received  an  answer  just  before  eight  o'clock  which 
said  that  Godfrey  was  not  at  Blankhampton ;  that 
his  address  during  the  last  ten  days  had  been  at 
Marley  Spa.  Accordingly  she  had  sent  down  for 
me,  scarcely  knowing  what  she  ought  to  do.  It 
was  really  most  difficult  for  me  to  give  her  any 
advice  at  all,"  said  the  Rector,  looking  perplexedly 
at  Margot.  "  You  see  I  have  known  her  for  so  many 
years,  and,  except  upon  parochial  matters,  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  had  never  asked  my  advice  at  all. 
When  the  squire  died  and  she  became  the  regent 


148  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

of  everything,  she  never  dreamed  of  asking  my  ad- 
vice about  any  matters  whatever,  and  I  really  felt 
quite  like  a  fish  out  of  water.  However,  she  seemed 
in  such  distress — and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  in  distress 
is  really  a  dreadful  sight,  my  child — that  I  advised 
her  to  wait  till  morning  and  to  telegraph  to  Marley 
Spa.  Of  course,  poor  lady,  she  is  fancying  all 
sorts  of  the  wildest  things,  really  the  most  incom- 
prehensible things,  for  which  she  has  no  grounds 
whatever.  Of  course  it  is  very  unusual  and  queer, 
but  young  men  often  do  queer  and  unusual  things, 
and,  of  course,  equally  there  is  nothing  for  it  but 
for  her  to  wait  patiently  until  the  morning  and 
then  find  out  as  much  as  the  telegraph  wires  will 
tell  her." 

"It  seems  most  extraordinary,"  said  Margot, 
who,  poor  child,  scarcely  knew  what  to  say.  Of 
course,  she  well  knew  that  Marley  Spa  was  the 
name  of  the  place  where  Godfrey  had  ostensibly 
been  living  during  the  last  few  days.  An  awful 
thought  occurred  to  her  that  if  anything  had 
happened  to  him,  surely  they  would  connect  his 
having  stayed  there  with  the  fact  that  Marley  Spa 
was  only  a  few  miles  from  Brixham.  Then  every- 
thing was  bound  to  come  out,  and  in  the  face  of 
that  letter  from  Godfrey  she  would  be  able  to 
explain  nothing.  Indeed,  if  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
passed  a  bad  night  during  those  dark  hours  which 
intervened  between  the  Rector's  departure  from 
the  House  and  the  opening  of  the  telegraph  office 
in  the  morning,  Margot  kept  her  company.  Not 
an  eye  did  the  girl  close.  She  spent  most  of  the 


ABSENT  WITHOUT  LEAVE.  149 

night,  if  the  truth  be  told,  sitting  at  the  open  win- 
dow, huddled  in  a  shawl  and  wondering  what  she 
should  do  if  that  link  were  made  in  the  chain. 

Immediately  after  breakfast  the  Rector  trotted 
away  to  see  how  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  getting 
on.  Margot  was  dying  to  go  with  him,  but  under 
the  circumstances  she  did  not  like  to  propose  it, 
so  she  remained  dawdling  about  the  garden  pre- 
tending to  do  a  dozen  things  and  in  reality  occu- 
pied with  nothing,  her  mind  torn  by  a  thousand 
emotions  and  full  of  anxiety.  She  almost  flew  to 
her  father  when  he  made  his  appearance.  "  Well, 
Daddy,"  she  asked,  "  and  what  is  the  news  ?" 

"  News  ?  My  dear,  there  is  next  to  none.  The 
plot  darkens,  the  mystery  thickens.  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook has  had  a  long  telegram  from  the  adju- 
tant of  Godfrey's  regiment  and  another  long  tele- 
gram from  the  landlord  of  the  hotel  where  he  was 
supposed  to  have  been  staying  at  Marley  Spa.  The 
adjutant  says  that  he  has  been  away  for  ten  days ; 
that  he  went  to  Marley  Spa  feeling  not  very  well, 
and  saying  that  a  few  days  of  the  waters  would  do 
him  good.  His  leave  is  up  to-night.  The  land- 
lord of  the  hotel  at  Marley  Spa  says  that  he  paid 
for  his  rooms  in  advance  for  ten  days ;  went  sev- 
eral mornings  to  ask  if  there  were  any  letters  or 
telegrams,  but  that  he  has  never  slept  there." 

"  And  what  does  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  think  ?" 

"  Ton  my  word,  I  don't  know  what  she  does 

think.     I  told  her  the  best  thing  she  can  do  is  to 

wait  a  few  days  and  see  what  Godfrey  says  for 

himself.     He   is   not   the  kind  of  young  man  to 

13* 


I5O  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

brook  much  interference ;  after  all,  he  is  a  man  out 
in  the  world,  his  own  master,  and,  as  I  told  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  he  is  not  accountable  to  her  or  any- 
body else  for  his  comings  and  goings,  and  that  the 
best  thing  to  do  would  be  to  write  to  the  regiment 
a  letter  which  will  await  his  return,  and  simply  ask 
for  an  explanation  of  why  he  did  not  keep  his 
promise  to  meet  her  in  London." 

"And  what  did  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  say?"  asked 
Margot,  eagerly. 

"Well,  she  was  rather  unreasonable  about  it," 
said  the  Rector.  "  You  see  I  could  not  tell  her  so, 
seeing  that  she  was  in  such  a  great  state  of  distress 
and  anxiety,  but  I  hinted  as  much.  Yes,  I  think 
she  was  decidedly  unreasonable.  You  see  she  has 
brought  up  Godfrey  from  his  early  childhood  to 
consider  himself  the  most  important  person  in  his 
sphere,  and  for  years  past,  long  before  he  came 
into  possession  of  his  kingdom,  she  accustomed 
him  to  have  the  casting  vote  about  everything,  to 
be  dominant,  to  judge  for  himself,  and  the  fact  that 
he  has  gone  away  for  a  few  days  without  consult- 
ing her  is  quite  what  she  might  reasonably  expect. 
Possibly  he  has  hurt  himself  or  met  with  some 
small  accident,  and  he  doesn't  wish  to  worry  her 
about  it." 

"  But  he  would  have  telegraphed ;  he  would 
have  written  saying  why  he  did  not  go  to  meet  her 
in  London,"  said  Margot. 

"  Well,  that  is  what  she  says — yes,  but  still,  he 
didn't  go,  did  he?  And  that  is  just  the  long  and 
short  of  it.  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  best  possible 


ABSENT  WITHO UT  LEAVE.  1 5 1 

thing  to  do  is  to  wait  patiently  for  a  few  days  and 
see  what  the  natural  sequence  of  events  will  do  in 
the  matter." 

And  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  did  wait  for  a  few  days, 
but  no  word  or  sign  came  from  Godfrey,  or  indeed 
from  any  one  else.  Then  she  lost  all  patience,  and 
set  off  to  Blankhampton  to  see  whether  she  could 
discover  any  trace  of  him  herself.  At  the  end  of 
three  days  she  wrote  to  the  Rector,  "  I  can  find 
no  trace  of  Godfrey  whatever.  I  don't  understand 
this  mystery.  I  feel  convinced  that  he  has  been 
murdered  or  got  out  of  the  road  in  some  way.  I 
have  put  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  police,  and 
the  colonel  of  the  regiment  thinks  that  I  am  doing 
perfectly  wisely.  Most  of  Godfrey's  things  are  at 
the  hotel  at  Marley  Spa,  that  is  to  say,  most  of  the 
things  which  he  seems  to  have  taken  with  him 
from  Blankhampton.  They  tell  me  that  he  was 
perfectly  well  in  health,  but  complained  the  day  be- 
fore he  asked  for  his  leave  of  feeling  not  quite  the 
thing.  He  started  from  Blankhampton  to  go  to 
Marley  Spa  for  a  short  course  of  the  waters,  but 
has  never  slept  in  the  hotel.  The  rooms  are  paid 
for  and  his  things  are  still  there.  The  landlord 
has  not  the  smallest  idea  whether  he  slept  in  the 
town  or  not.  I  can  find  no  trace  of  him  at  the 
station.  Nobody  seems  to  have  noticed  anything 
about  him,  which  seems  very  remarkable,  as  God- 
frey is  particularly  noticeable  in  appearance.  Some 
of  his  belongings  are  missing.  I  took  his  port- 
manteau and  all  the  things  that  I  found  at  the 
hotel  at  Marley  Spa  back  to  Blankhampton ;  and 


I$2  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

his  body-servant  tells  me  that  a  similar  portman- 
teau and  several  suits  of  clothing,  together  with 
his  combs  and  brushes  and  other  toilet  appliances, 
are  all  missing." 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  describe  with  what 
mixed  feelings  Margot  read  this  letter.  She  knew 
but  too  well  that  all  Godfrey's  toilet  appliances 
had  been  destroyed  in  the  railway  accident.  They 
had  found  the  debris  of  certain  ivory-backed 
brushes  and  such  things  in  the  shed  at  Ruxford ; 
and  Godfrey  had  pointed  them  out  to  her  privately 
with  a  laugh  at  their  ruined  condition,  but  had  not 
claimed  them  because  of  the  crest  and  monogram 
emblazoned  upon  them.  "  It  is  no  use  claiming 
these,"  he  said  to  her ;  "  they  are  completely  done 
for.  And  as  I  have  given  the  name  of  Smith,  it  will 
be  best  not  to  claim  anything  with  G.  B.  stamped 
on  it,  more  particularly  as  you  have  claimed  things 
marked  with  other  initials  than  those  under  which 
you  are  passing." 

After  ten  days  or  so,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  returned 
home  no  wiser  than  she  had  been  when  she  left  it. 
Apparently  Godfrey  had  disappeared  utterly  and 
entirely ;  he  had  disappeared  as  completely  as  if 
the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed  him  up ;  there 
was  apparently  no  trace  of  him.  It  was  as  if  he 
had  vanished  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  The 
day  after  her  return  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  drove  down 
to  the  Rectory  in  order  to  talk  it  all  over,  and  to 
tell  the  Rector  and  Margot  the  very  latest  news, 
or  want  of  news. 

"If  there  were  any   reason   for  it,"  said    Mrs. 


ABSENT  WITHOUT  LEAVE.  153 

Bladensbrook  for  about  the  twentieth  time,  when 
she  had  told  them  all  that  she  knew  or  did  not 
know ;  "  if  there  were  any  reason  for  it,  then  it 
would  be  understandable  enough  ;  but  Godfrey  was 
not  like  other  young  men :  he  is  so  rich,  so  free  in 
his  circumstances ;  it  is  so  unlike  him.  I  cannot 
make  it  out.  And  really  there  is  nothing  about 
his  rooms  to  show  that  he  was  mixed  up  in  any 
way  with  anybody  outside.  His  colonel  and  I 
looked  over  his  letters — such  as  were  lying  about 
— and  they  were  all  the  veriest  and  most  unim- 
portant trifles,  invitations  and  such  like.  There 
are  no  signs  of  his  being  entangled  in  any  way. 
There  is  a  portrait  of  myself  and  Margot  and  your 
two  boys  and  a  set  of  photographs  of  Bladens- 
brook, but  all  things  that  he  has  had  about  him 
for  years.  I  cannot  understand  it.  And,  of 
course,  his  leave  is  long  since  at  an  end.  He  is 
absent  without  leave,  a  grave  military  offence.  It 
seems  impossible  that  a  Bladensbrook  could  de- 
liberately absent  himself  when  his  leave  was  fin- 
ished. What  do  you  think,  Margot  ?" 

"I  don't   know  what  to  think,"  said   Margot, 
which  was  true  enough. 


154  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

AT   A   DEAD   END. 

ALL  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  to  elicit 
information  about  Godfrey's  movements  and  where- 
abouts proved  to  be  unavailing.  So  far  as  she  was 
able  to  trace  him  herself  just  so  far  did  the  police 
go  likewise,  then  the  traces  broke  off  sharp,  and 
all  her  efforts  and  all  those  of  the  detectives  whom 
she  employed  proved  to  be  absolutely  unavailing. 

The  weeks  went  by  and  the  glorious  summer 
weather  waned  into  autumn.  In  due  course  of 
time  Godfrey  was  gazetted  as  being  superseded  for 
absence  without  leave ;  then,  indeed,  did  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook begin  to  realize  that  her  son  was  irre- 
trievably lost  to  her.  "  And  yet,"  she  said  to 
Margot,  "  I  cannot  think  that  Godfrey  is  dead.  I 
think  if  he  were  dead  he  would  come  back ;  he 
would  find  some  means  of  letting  me  know  what 
had  happened  to  him.  I  feel  sure  that  he  would 
never  leave  me  in  this  terrible  anxiety  and  sus- 
pense. He  would  come;  he  would  send  some 
token ;  he  would  let  me  know  somehow.  Yet, 
why  is  he  staying  away  ?  Or,  if  he  finds  it  neces- 
sary, for  some  reason  best  known  to  himself,  to 
throw  over  his  whole  career,  to  abandon  every- 
thing that  life  has  held  for  him  up  to  now,  why 
does  he  not  set  my  mind  at  rest?  Godfrey  has 
always  been  so  affectionate,  so  thoughtful,  so  con- 


AT  A   DEAD  END.  155 

siderate  for  me  before  all,  and,  indeed,  before  every- 
body about  him.  I  feel  convinced,  from  the  state 
of  his  papers,  for  every  reason,  that  he  left  Blank- 
hampton  intending  to  return;  that  he  had  no 
thought  of  all  this  happening.  Then,  what  about 
those  notes  ?" 

"  What  notes  ?"  asked  Margot. 

"  My  dear,  whilst  he  was  at  Marley  Spa  he  went 
to  the  bank.  He  gave  them  a  cheque  for  one 
hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  and  he  told  them  to 
get  it  cashed  and  that  he  would  come  for  the 
money  in  a  couple  of  days'  time.  He  took  the 
money — fifty  pounds  of  it  in  bank-notes  and 
eighty  pounds  in  gold.  Naturally,  the  numbers 
of  those  notes  were  taken  before  the  clerk  handed 
them  to  him ;  and,  although  they  have  communi- 
cated with  every  bank  in  England,  not  one  of 
those  notes  has  been  traced  or  has  come  back. 
How  do  you  account  for  that  ?" 

Now,  as  Margot  had  the  whole  of  the  notes  in 
her  possession  at  that  moment,  she  could  have  ac- 
counted for  it  very  easily,  but  the  possession  of 
Godfrey's  last  letter  was  sufficient  to  make  her 
keep  the  fact  to  herself. 

"  If  Godfrey  had  been  maltreated  and  robbed 
for  the  sake  of  that  hundred  and  thirty  pounds," 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on,  "  the  thieves  would 
certainly  have  spent  the  money.  Some  of  the 
notes  would  be  in  circulation  by  this  time,  but 
there  is  not  a  trace  of  any  one  of  those  notes  to 
be  found  anywhere.  How  do  you,  I  say,  account 


156  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  I  suppose  whoever  has  them  is  afraid  to  pass 
them,"  said  Margot. 

"  Well,  if  that  is  so,  we  shall  probably  never 
hear  of  them.  They  are  probably  destroyed  long 
ago.  But  I  want  to  know  where  is  Godfrey? 
Why  should  Godfrey  leave  me  like  this  ?  Why 
should  he  go  against  all  the  habits  and  customs 
of  his  life  ?  I  cannot  make  it  out." 

"  Nor  I,"  said  Margot. 

"And  yet,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on,  "I  feel 
convinced  that  Godfrey  is  alive;  that  he  is  not 
dead.  I  shall  always  think  that,  unless  I  have 
actual  proof  of  it." 

Margot,  however,  had  no  opinion  to  offer  on 
the  subject  of  Godfrey's  whereabouts  or  as  to 
what  had  happened  to  him.  If  she  had  made  a 
clean  breast  of  it,  that  is  to  say  of  her  own  part  in 
Godfrey's  life,  she  could  have  told  nothing  except 
that  he  was  certainly  alive  on  the  day  previous  to 
that  whereon  he  was  to  have  met  his  mother  in 
London.  His  whereabouts  she  did  not  know  nor 
whether  he  were  actually  alive  or  not,  but  her  be- 
lief was  that  for  some  strange  and  mysterious 
reason  of  his  own  he  was  keeping  out  of  sight. 
How  long  it  would  last,  what  the  consequences 
would  be,  she  had  no  notion ;  but  in  the  face  of 
Godfrey's  last  letter  to  her  she  unhesitatingly  set 
herself  to  wait  his  time  of  disclosing  the  necessity 
for  keeping  silence.  She  was  not  exactly  uneasy  ; 
she  felt  that  Godfrey  knew  best  what  was  the  best 
both  for  her  and  for  him ;  she  was  more  than  sorry 
for  his  mother's  anxiety — and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 


AT  A   DEAD  END.  157 

was  not  a  woman  who  bore  anxiety  well — yet  she 
was  firmly  convinced  that  in  any  case  it  was  not 
for  her  to  interfere  or  to  make  even  the  smallest 
admission  or  disclosure. 

The  days  wore  on,  and  the  people  round  about 
Bladensbrook  began  to  lose  interest  somewhat  in 
the  fate  of  the  master  of  the  house.  I  do  not 
mean  the  actual  entourage  of  Bladensbrook,  but 
the  friends  and  acquaintances  of  the  family  for  a 
few  miles  around.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  no- 
where; the  continual  fretting  and  anxiety  told 
terribly  upon  her  already  indifferent  health,  and 
she  denied  herself  to  all  visitors  excepting  the 
Rector  and  Margot ;  she  went  nowhere  excepting 
sometimes  to  the  Rectory  to  see  the  Rector  when 
he  was  unable  to  go  to  the  House.  She  took  her 
drives  within  the  confines  of  the  estate ;  in  short, 
she  lived  almost  the  life  of  a  recluse. 

"  You  have  quite  decided  to  go  to  the  Pyre- 
nees ?"  she  said  to  Mr.  Dangerfield  one  day  when 
she  had  gone  down  to  tea  at  the  Rectory. 

"  It  has  been  decided  for  me,"  said  the  Rector, 
gently. 

"  Oh,  is  that  so  ?     And  how  is  that  ?" 

"  Well,  it  has  been  decided  that  I  ought  to  go 
into  a  milder  climate,  somewhere  where  the  air  is 
mild  and  pure.  I  am  tired  of  the  Riviera,  and  I 
don't  want  to  go  to  Italy.  I  feel  as  if  the  Pyrenees 
would  suit  us  very  well,  and  the  doctors  are  im- 
perative that  I  should  be  away  from  England  in 
less  than  a  fortnight." 

"  I  envy  you,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
14 


158  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  But  why  need  you  envy  us  ?  Why  cannot 
you  go,  too  ?  Change  of  scene  and  seeing  people 
who  know  nothing  of  your  anxiety  would  be  very 
good  for  you." 

"  I  cannot  leave  Bladensbrook.  I  must  stay  at 
home.  I  should  not  have  an  easy  moment.  Oh, 
no ;  don't  suggest  such  a  thing  as  my  going  away." 

"My  dear  lady,"  said  the  old  Rector,  gently, 
"as  your  good  friend  of  many  years,  I  do  suggest 
it.  I  beg  you  to  think  of  it.  I  feel  it  would  be 
the  wisest  course  that  you  could  take.  It  isn't 
like  the  old  times ;  you  would  be  in  telegraphic 
communication  with  your  own  people  the  whole 
time." 

But  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  shook  her  head  in  that 
gentle  yet  decided  way  which,  as  the  Rector  well 
knew,  indicated  that  it  was  useless  for  him  to  say 
another  word  on  the  subject.  "  I  should  not  be 
happy  away  from  Bladensbrook,"  she  said,  simply ; 
"not  at  present,  at  all  events.  Perhaps  I  may 
come  and  join  you  later.  In  the  meantime  I  must 
stay  here  and  keep  my  stewardship.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  Godfrey  is  not  dead. 

"  I  hope  not,  indeed,"  said  the  Rector,  fervently. 

Then  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  took  her  leave  and 
went  home  again ;  Margot  going  with  her  to  the 
carriage  and  seeing  her  safely  into  it." 

"  Poor  woman,"  said  the  Rector,  when  Margot 
went  back  to  the  fireside,  "  how  she  clings  to  the 
mere  chance  of  the  boy  being  still  alive.  It  only 
shows  how  the  most  sensible  people  can  deceive 
themselves  when  their  hearts  lead  them  in  a  certain 


AT  A   DEAD  END.  159 

direction.  I  am  afraid  there  is  little  chance  of 
Godfrey  Bladensbrook  ever  coming  back  to  his 
own  again." 

"Then  you  think  he  is  dead,  Daddy?"  said 
Margot. 

"  I  should  say  that  there  is  every  probability  of 
it.  Most  likely  he  has  been  put  out  of  the  road 
for  the  sake  of  the  bit  of  money  and  the  few 
jewels  he  had  about  him.  One  thing  is  certain,  at 
least  to  my  .mind,  were  he  alive  he  would  never 
leave  his  mother,  to  whom  he  has  always  been 
so  devoted,  in  such  anxiety  and  suspense.  Besides, 
what  reason  can  he  possibly  have  for  deliberately 
losing  himself,  as  would  be  the  case  if  her  theory 
was  a  right  one  ?  No,  no ;  that  poor  boy  has  been 
got  out  of  sight,  and  it  is  a  thousand  chances  to 
one  that  the  end  will  ever  be  accurately  known. 
Perhaps  it  is  better  for  her,  poor  soul,  that  she 
should  cling  to  this  hope,  for  it  will  accustom  her 
to  being  without  him,  and  will  certainly  deaden 
the  blow  when  it  does  fall." 

"  I  don't  believe  that  blow  will  fall,"  said  Margot, 
in  a  trembling  voice. 

"  Ah,  no,  your  heart  goes  out  to  the  poor  mother. 
Women  are  all  alike,  young  and  old ;  they  hope 
for  what  they  wish;  men  learn  only  to  hope  for 
what  is  possible." 

Eventually  it  was  decided  that  the  Rector  and 
Margot  should  make  Pau  their  immediate  destina- 
tion, and  within  the  time  stipulated  by  the  doctors 
they  left  the  Rectory.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  came 
down  to  see  them  the  previous  afternoon,  and  then 


l6o  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

the  Rector  unfolded  to  her  an  idea  which  was 
troubling  him  not  a  little.  "  There  is  something 
on  my  mind  which  I  wanted  to  consult  you  about," 
he  said  to  her.  "  You  have  said  several  times 
lately  that  you  were  so  glad  that  I  have  managed 
to  persuade  Mr.  Morris  to  remain  here  as  curate, 
that  he  might  have  sole  charge  during  my  winter 
absence." 

"  Yes,  I  think  it  an  excellent  thing ;  far  better 
than  getting  a  locum  tenens"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,  decidedly. 

"  You  like  Morris,  don't  you  ?" 

"  Very  much,  indeed,"  she  replied. 

"Don't  you  think,"  said  the  Rector,  "that  in 
common  justice  I  ought  to  resign  the  living?" 

"No,  I  do  not,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "I 
don't  think  so  at  all." 

"  But,  dear  lady,  is  it  quite  fair  to  go  on  when  I 
have  to  be  months  and  months  away  and  can  take 
but  little  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  parish  ?" 

"  My  dear  Rector,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  I 
think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  not  a  man,  woman, 
or  child  in  the  whole  of  Bladensbrook  parish  but 
would  be  bitterly  grieved  if  you  were  to  leave 
it.  It  would  be  time  enough  if  ever  you  were 
taken  away  to  think  of  your  successor ;  while  you 
are  alive  I  hope  that  nothing,  not  even  a  bishopric, 
would  induce  you  to  turn  your  back  upon  us." 

"  I  shall  never  have  that  inducement,  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook," said  he,  smiling ;  "  they  don't  make 
bishops  of  such  men  as  I  am.  They  don't  take 
Derby  winners  off  the  cab  rank." 


AT  A   DEAD  END.  l6l 

"  No,  no ;  I  was  speaking  figuratively.  But  pray 
do  put  any  idea  of  leaving  right  out  of  your  head. 
In  the  first  place,  Godfrey  is  away,  and  a  new  Rector 
could  not  be  appointed  without  him." 

"  I  thought  you  held  Godfrey's  power  of  attor- 
ney ?" 

"  So  I  do ;  but  I  do  not  consider  that  my  powers 
go  so  far  as  the  presentation  of  a  living." 

"  I  believe  they  do  in  law,"  said  the  Rector. 

"  Well,  whether  you  believe  that  or  not,  I  beg 
that  you  will  say  no  more  about  it.  You  will 
make  me  very  unhappy  if  you  suggest  anything 
of  the  kind.  Mr.  Morris  is  very  nice,  very  dear, 
very  sympathetic,  a  good  worker,  everybody  likes 
him,  but  he  is  not  our  own  old  Rector,  and  we  cannot 
spare  you.  We  cannot  have  you  for  the  whole 
year  because  your  health  demands  otherwise ;  we 
prefer  to  have  you  while  we  can  than  to  have  you 
not  all.  I  entreat  you  to  say  nothing  more  about 
it." 

So,  with  a  sigh,  it  must  be  admitted  of  infinite 
relief,  the  Rector  put  the  subject  away  from  his 
mind.  In  his  own  heart  he  knew  that  it  would 
not  be  very  long  before  there  would  be  no  question 
about  the  choice  of  a  new  Rector  for  Bladensbrook. 
There  are  certain  diseases  which  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  must  come  to  an  end  sooner  or 
later,  and  Mr.  Dangerfield  knew  perfectly  well  that 
the  time  was  not  very  far  distant  when  that  con- 
tingency would  present  itself  necessitously  before 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  mind.  Still,  he  loved  every 
stick  and  stone,  every  yard  of  turf,  every  tree  and 
/  14* 


1 62  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

shrub  about  the  Rectory  in  which  he  had  been  so 
happy  and  so  supremely  contented ;  and  it  was  a 
threefold  joy  to  him  to  feel  that  he  might  linger 
out  his  last  few  years  in  that  well-loved  spot  with- 
out feeling  that  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  cumberer 
of  the  ground. 

And  with  what  a  sinking  heart  did  Margot 
prepare  for  her  journey.  It  would  indeed  be 
hard  for  me  to  describe.  As  every  day  went 
past,  hope  seemed  to  recede  further  and  further 
from  her,  and  an  awful  unfathomable  dread  of  the 
future  to  press  closer  and  closer  upon  her,  looming 
in  front  of  her,  tall,  dark,  foreboding,  a  something 
that  could  not  be  excised  or  frightened  away ;  a 
something  planted  immovably  in  front  of  her ;  a 
something  which  could  only  be  lived  through  day 
by  day  and  hour  by  hour.  She  had  a  feeling  that 
it  would  not  be  safe  for  her  to  carry  those  bank- 
notes on  their  expedition.  She  therefore  packed 
them  together  with  Godfrey's  last  letter  into  a 
fresh  parcel,  which  she  secured  with  many  seals, 
on  the  back  of  which  she  wrote,  "  In  case  of  my 
death,  this  parcel  is  to  be  burned  unopened,"  and 
this  she  locked  away  in  a  large  dressing-case  which 
had  belonged  to  her  mother,  and  which  she  never 
took  abroad  with  her  on  account  of  its  size  and 
weight.  This  box  she  in  turn  hid  away  at  the 
bottom  of  her  largest  wardrobe,  which  she  care- 
fully locked,  carrying  the  key  with  he.r ;  thus  she 
felt  that  there  would  be  no  excuse  for  any  person 
or  persons  who  came  into  her  room  to  tamper  in 
any  way  with  the  box  containing  the  sealed  packet. 


AT  A   DEAD  END.  163 

"  I  am  afraid,  Margot,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
that  last  afternoon,  "that  you  are  much  more 
anxious  about  your  father  than  he  has  any  idea  of." 

"  I  am  very  anxious  about  him,"  said  Margot, 
looking  away  from  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  out 
over  the  dull,  wintry  landscape. 

"  I  can  see  it,  dear.  I  know  you  are.  My  heart 
aches  for  you.  You  are  too  young  to  have  such 
anxiety  pressing  upon  you.  Ah,  if  only  your  aunt, 
Mrs.  Blake,  were  more  genial,  more  kindly,  how 
much  she  could  take  off  your  young  shoulders." 

"  We  are  much  happier  without  Aunt  Marcia," 
said  Margot,  decidedly. 

"  Yes,  dear,  I  have  no  doubt  you  are ;  but  still 
it  is  too  much  for  you.  You  look  so  ill,  so  wor- 
ried. You  know,  dear  child,  I  really  don't  think 
that  the  Rector  is  any  worse  than  he  has  been  for 
several  years  past." 

"  Don't  you  ?"  said  Margot.  "  I  think  Daddy 
is  very  much  worse.  He  does  less ;  he  exerts 
himself  less ;  he  eats  less ;  he  sits  longer  at  a  time 
doing  nothing.  Oh,  I  think  Daddy  is  very  much 
changed." 

"  And  you  dread  going  away  with  him  so  far  ?" 

"  A  little,"  said  Margot. 

"  Well,  dear  child,  if  he  should  be  very  ill,  you 
know  you  need  only  send  for  me  and  I  will  come 
to  you.  I  don!t  feel  that  I  can  go  now.  My  place 
is  here ;  my  duty  to  Godfrey  imperatively  bids  me 
stay  where  I  am,  and,  besides  those  considerations, 
I  should  be  wretched  away  from  home ;  but  if  the 
Rector  were  very  ill,  if  you  felt  that  you  must 


164  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

have  somebody  with  you,  that  would  be  different ; 
and  you  must  not  hesitate  to  send  for  me,  and  I 
would  start  at  an  hour's  notice." 

"  How  good  you  are,"  said  Margot,  in  a  trem- 
bling voice.  "  Why  should  you  be  so  good  to  us  ?" 

"  Because  I  have  loved  you  all  for  years  and 
years  and  years,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  looking 
at  her  sadly.  "  My  own  life  has  not  been  so 
happy  as  to  make  me  indifferent  to  the  sorrows  of 
others.  You  know,  dear,  I  lost  the  best  and 
dearest  husband  in  the  world  without  a  moment's 
notice.  He  was  quite  a  young  man,  and  I  little 
more  than  a  girl.  I  was  very  anxious  during  my 
boy's  young  days ;  anxious  to  do  the  best  for  him 
in  every  sense,  and  until  now,  Godfrey  has  never 
given  me  an  hour's  anxiety  in  his  life.  I  don't 
think  he  is  dead ;  I  believe  that  he  will  come  back 
again.  I  believe  he  will  explain  everything  to  my 
perfect  satisfaction.  I  will  trust  him  through  all 
and  in  spite  of  all.  But  still,  here  I  am,  a  lonely 
woman,  feeble  in  health,  anxious  in  mind  and  very 
sorrowful.  Can  you  wonder  that  I  feel  towards 
you,  dear  child,  as  if  you  were  my  own  little 
daughter  ?  Surely  not." 

"  Oh,  don't,"  cried  Margot ;  "  oh,  don't  say  that, 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  !  I  am  very  unhappy.  I — I — 
don't  feel  that  you  ought  to  say  that  to  me.  I  am 
not  the  girl  that  you  think  me,  and  I  am  afraid  that 
some  day  you  may  see  me  as  I  really  am." 


A   QUESTION.  165 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

A   QUESTION. 

FOR  several  months  after  the  departure  of  the 
Rector  and  Margot  for  their  winter  resting-place, 
life  went  on  at  Bladensbrook  with  a  monotony 
which  to  the  anxious  woman  in  possession  there 
was  little  short  of  maddening.  Margot  wrote  to 
her  every  week,  sometimes  more  often  than  that, 
giving  her  the  latest  news  of  her  father  and  dis- 
cussing odds  and  ends  of  information  concerning 
the  parish  as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  from  time  to  time 
had  mentioned  in  her  letters.  "  Daddy  is  certainly 
very  much  better,"  she  wrote,  when  they  had  been 
there  some  three  or  four  weeks ;  "  very,  very  much 
better.  You  would  hardly  know  him  for  the  same 
person.  He  has  taken  to  golfing,  and  seems  to  be 
out  all  day  long.  Indeed,  I  look  at  him  sometimes 
in  absolute  wonder."  She  then  went  on  to  give 
various  little  sketches  of  the  people  whose  ac- 
quaintance they  had  made,  and  with  whom  they 
were  the  most  intimate,  and  also  of  those  who 
were  the  most  marked  figures  in  the  bright  little 
town  where  they  were  sojourning. 

Between  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  the  curate,  Mr. 
Morris,  a  great  friendship  had  sprung  up.  The 
curate  was  a  young  man  of  some  property,  very 
much  alone  in  the  world,  and  of  very  pronounced 
and  dominant  character.  Short  of  a  living  of  his 


1 66  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

own,  his  cure  at  Bladensbrook  suited  him  as  prob- 
ably no  other  cure  in  the  world  would  have  done. 
So  long  as  he  did  not  offend  the  lady  of  the  soil 
or  wound  the  susceptibilities  of  the  poorer  folk, 
Mr.  Dangerfield  left  him  a  free  hand,  and  he  was 
therefore  able  to  make  many  improvements  and 
changes ;  facts  which  are  not  always  synonymous. 
To  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  his  friendship  was  peculiarly 
welcome.  He  had  seen  and  admired  Godfrey,  and 
was  especially  sympathetic  when  she  spoke  to  him 
of  her  anxiety  and  her  hopes  and  fears ;  to  every- 
one else  she  was  absolutely  silent  on  the  subject ; 
even  the  steward  was  afraid  to  mention  the  young 
squire  other  than  as  if  he  were  but  putting  in 
time  with  his  regiment.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  always 
settled  every  question  in  some  such  way  as, "  I  think 
Mr.  Bladensbrook  would  like  that,"  or  "  I  feel  quite 
sure  that  Mr.  Bladensbrook  would  approve  of  that." 
"  We  must  do  so-and-so  for  the  present  and  settle 
the  question  definitely  when  Mr.  Bladensbrook 
returns."  There  were  times  when  the  poor  steward 
thought  that  the  lady's  head  was  a  little  turned  by 
her  troubles,  but  he  no  more  dared  have  spoken 
of  it  to  her  than  he  dared  have  struck  her  in  the 
face. 

"  It  seems  so  hard,"  she  said  one  day  to  the 
curate  when  he  had  been  dining  with  her  and  they 
were  left  alone  at  the  table  together,  "  it  seems  so 
hard,  when  there  are  so  many  bad  husbands  and 
sons,  that  mine,  who  were  both  good,  should  have 
been  taken  away  from  me.  I  assure  you  I  never 
had  an  indifferent  word  from  my  husband  in  my 


A    QUESTION.  16? 

life.  There  was  never  one  moment,  from  first  to 
last,  when  my  interests  were  not  his  interests  and 
his  interests  mine.  As  for  Godfrey,  from  the  time 
he  was  a  baby  he  never  gave  me  a  moment's  un- 
.  easiness  until  now.  Why,  I  assure  you  he  got  his 
teeth  without  our  even  knowing  it.  It  seems  so 
strange  that  these  two  should  be  taken  and  so  many 
bad  ones  left." 

"  And  it  is  strange,"  said  the  curate,  "  it  is  most 
strange,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  But  you  are  still  con- 
vinced that  your  son  is " 

"  Living  ?"  she  ended  as  he  hesitated.  "  More 
convinced  of  it  than  ever ;  perfectly  assured  that 
in  time  he  will  explain  everything  to  my  full  satis- 
faction, and  yet  I  can't  help  worrying  and  fretting 
and  thinking  about  him.  I  feel,  when  I  lie  awake 
in  the  night  and  wonder  where  he  is  and  what  he 
is  doing,  I  feel  as  if  I  am  insulting  him  by  having 
even  a  qualm,  even  a  doubt;  and  yet  the  qualms 
and  the  doubts  and  the  fears  are  there,  and  some- 
times I  can  see  my  people  look  at  me  and  I  can  see 
writ  plain  on  their  faces  that  they  think  I  am  mad." 

"  Oh,  no,  no  !" 

"  Yes,  yes,"  speaking  very  sadly.  "  I  was  con- 
sulting with  the  agent  this  morning  about  some 
improvements ;  he  knew  his  place  too  well  to  say 
so,  but  I  could  see  pity  and  commiseration  stamped 
on  every  line  of  his  face ;  it  rang  in  every  tone  of 
his  voice ;  he  was  so  sorry  for  me,  and  he  thinks  I 
am  a  little  mad.  Now  you  know  I  am  not  a  bit 
mad ;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  am  a  hard-headed,  sensi- 
ble woman,  with  no  more  madness  about  me  than 


168  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

a  conviction  of  something  to  come.  Tell  me  truly, 
do  you  think  that  Godfrey  is  alive  ?" 

"  I  don't  know.  You  see  I  don't  know  him  as 
you  do,  and  yet  I  confess  I  think  you  are  right.  I 
think  that  you  would  never  have  such  a  conviction 
without  some  ground  for  it,  and  I  would  prefer  to 
trust  your  judgment  in  such  a  matter  rather  than 
my  own  under  the  circumstances." 

"  I  am  glad  of  that,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  in 
a  tone  of  satisfaction,  "  because  it  tells  me  that  you 
do  not  think  that  my  belief  is  a  sign  of  my  mind 
being  diseased.  Somehow,  I  don't  like  people  to 
think  that  I  am  not  right  in  my  head.  It  is  a 
dreadful  feeling ;  I  dislike  it  very  much.  However, 
what  others  think  is  no  matter  to  me.  When 
Godfrey  comes  home  again,  they  will  all  say, '  Ah, 
she  is  a  wonderful  woman ;  she  said  he  was  not 
dead.'  They  will  all  think  I  have  some  marvellous 
power  of  second-sight,  people  are  so  silly." 

They  left  the  table  presently  and  went  into  the 
cosy  smaller  drawing-room,  which  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook particularly  affected  as  her  own  especial 
sanctum.  There  they  drank  their  coffee,  and  then 
Mr.  Morris  showed  his  hostess  a  particularly  new 
and  intricate  form  of  Patience,  a  game  of  which 
she  was  exceedingly  fond.  She  used  to  say  that 
she  loved  Patience  in  any  form  because  she  could 
play  it  by  herself  and  think  at  the  same  time.  "  I 
never  was  much  of  a  sewing-woman,"  she  said  as  she 
turned  the  cards  out  of  their  inlaid  box  and  began 
shuffling  them  with  her  handsome  jewelled  fingers. 
"  I  never  could  see  the  virtue  of  making  holes  to 


A    QUESTION.  169 

stitch  them  up  again.  If  I  want  lace,  I  buy  lace  ;  if 
I  want  embroidery,  I  buy  embroidery ;  but  to  ruin 
my  eyesight,  spoil  my  digestion,  and  fret  my  tem- 
per by  trying  to  do  something  that  I  know  I  could 
never  do  well  is  not  my  idea  of  proper  occupation. 
I  read  the  papers,  look  after  the  estate,  write  a  good 
many  letters,  and  play  Patience.  It  has  saved  me 
many  a  time  from  getting  down  into  the  very 
slough  of  despond.  Now,  there  are  the  cards; 
show  me  this  wonderful  new  game  of  yours." 

The  curate  took  one  pack  from  her,  saying,  "  It 
only  needs  a  single  pack.  You  deal  thirteen  cards 
into  a  heap,"  he  said,  "  then  place  four  for  the  col- 
umns and  one  as  the. turn-up  for  the  base  cards, 
then  you  pile  downwards  for  the  columns  alter- 
nately red  and  black,  upwards  for  the  bases  in  their 
own  suits.  You  turn  your  rubbish  heap  as  many 
times  as  you  like  until  you  can  get  no  more  cards 
out,  and  you  turn  them  three  at  a  time." 

"  It  sounds  rather  intricate,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook.  "  Do  you  play  a  game  and  I  will  watch 
you.  I  shall  learn  the  quickest  that  way." 

He  played  for  a  little  while  in  comparative 
silence,  only  pointing  out  to  her  points  in  the  game 
such  as  "  You  see  you  always  play  to  the  bases." 
"  You  see  you  always  fill  up  from  the  pack,  never 
from  the  rubbish  heap.  If  a  similar  card  is  on  the 
top  of  the  pack,  your  object  is  to  diminish  this. 
Yes,  that  seven  goes  on  that  eight  and  then  a  black 
six.  Do  you  see  ?" 

"  I    see,"  said    Mrs.  Bladensbrook.     "  It   looks 
quite  easy.     You  are  doing  it  the  first  time." 
H  15 


I/O  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  T  have  not  done  it  yet,"  said  the  curate.  He 
played  a  little  longer  in  silence  and  finally  came  to 
a  stop.  "There's  just  a  chance,"  he  said,  "but 
only  one.  I  may  now  take  a  single  card  off  any 
of  the  bases,  if  it  will  fit  on  to  one  of  the  columns, 
and  so  relieve  the  congestion.  See,  I  will  take  that 
four  and  put  it  on  this  five.1  Ah,  it  is  no  use." 

"  But  you  are  nearly  done  ?" 

"  But  I  am  not  quite  done,"  said  he,  smiling ; 
"  that  is  where  the  demon  comes  in.  It  is  well 
called  '  Demon  Patience.'  I  have  often  tried  a 
dozen  times  to  do  it,  and  failed  each  time  when  it 
has  seemed  just  within  my  grasp.  Believe  me, 
my  dear  lady,  it  is  the  one  form  of  Patience  which 
puts  all  the  others  into  the  shade ;  it  is  the  one  form 
of  which  one  never  tires ;  it  is  always  interesting, 
always  fresh,  always  tantalizing." 

"But  you  can  do  it  sometimes?"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook. 

"  Oh,  yes,  sometimes,  but  not  very  often." 

She  took  the  other  pack,  then,  and  began  to 
play  the  game  herself,  the  curate  watching  her  and 
throwing  in  a  word  of  advice  now  and  again.  She 
failed,  however,  to  carry  the  game  to  a  satisfactory 
conclusion.  "  It  is  a  game  !"  she  exclaimed,  when 
she  found  she  could  go  no  further.  "  I  am  most 
obliged  to  you,  Mr.  Morris,  for  telling  me  of  it. 
It  will  keep  me  amused  many  an  hour  when  I  can- 
not keep  my  attention  to  a  book  or  a  paper,  and  it 
is  rightly  called  '  Demon  Patience.'  It  is  a  demon." 
She  began  to  shuffle  the  cards  and  to  deal  them 
out  again,  idly,  almost  unthinkingly.  "  I  had  a 


A    QUESTION.  I/I 

letter  from  Margot  Dangerfield  to-day,"  she  ob- 
served, casually. 

"  Oh,  yes  ?  I  hope  the  Rector  is  going  on  well. 
I  have  not  heard  for  several  days, — well,  for  nearly 
a  week." 

"  She  says  that  he  is  greatly  better,  wonderfully 
better ;  and  she  writes  more  brightly,  more  about 
the  people  whom  they  are  among  and  of  the  place, 
and  so  on.  A  charming  girl,  Mr.  Morris." 

"  A  very  charming  girl,"  said  the  curate,  looking 
at  the  cards  and  not  at  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  I  have  known  her  ever  since  she  was  born — 
she  was  born  in  the  Rectory,  you  know.  I  have 
seen  her  grow  up,  a  wee  toddling  thing,  ruling  those 
two  big  boys  and  my  Godfrey  with  a  rod  of  iron. 
She  is  a  good  girl,  a  dear  girl.  I  know  of  no  unmar- 
ried, feminine  person  so  gentle,  so  sweet,  so  reliable 
and  dependable  as  little  Margot.  Godfrey  was  ex- 
ceedingly fond  of  her — I  don't  mean  in  that-way; 
of  course,  if  he  had  chosen  to  make  her  his  wife  I 
should  have  said  nothing.  He  was  perfectly  free 
to  follow  his  own  bent.  Of  course,  he  might  have 
looked  higher,  but  there  was  never  anything  of  that 
kind  between  them.  She  was  his  dear  little  sister, 
and  he,  just  like  the  two  boys,  a  big  brother  to  her. 
I  have  a  very  high  opinion  of  Margot  Dangerfield." 

"  I  admire  her  very  much,"  said  the  curate,  "  very 
much,  indeed ;  more  than  any  young  lady  I  have 
seen  here  at  all." 

"  The  girls  hereabouts  are  not  especially  nice," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  in  rather  a  freezing  tone. 
"  It  would  have  been  a  great  grief  to  me  if  my  son 


172  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

had  ever  contemplated  marrying  any  daughter  of 
the  people  surrounding  us.  They  mostly  seem  to 
me  a  little  underbred,  and — well,  perhaps,  I  had 
better  not  say  that,  but  I  don't  like  the  manners  of 
the  girls  of  to-day  too  well.  I  prefer  my  little  Mar- 
got  ;  she  is  the  essence  of  good  breeding.  She  was 
always  so.  As  a  tiny  little  toddling  child  in  short 
frocks  and  socks  she  was  always  the  same  perfect 
little  lady.  Do  you  put  that  king  on  the  ace  ?" 

"  Yes,  for  the  columns  always." 

"  I  see.  Margot  was  very  much  down  about  her 
father  before  they  left  home.  I  think  she  had  an 
idea  that  he  was  very  much  worse  than  he  really 
is.  She  said  as  much  to  me ;  but  I  never  thought 
that  the  Rector  was  so  very  ill.  Of  course,  he  was 
ill  enough  to  take  care,  ill  enough  to  be  careful 
what  he  was  doing,  but  that  is  all ;  and  Mr.  Danger- 
field  is  getting  a  good  age  ;  he  must  be  sixty-two  or 
three,  perhaps  a  little  more." 

"And  Miss  Dangerfield  is  feeling  happier  about 
him?" 

"  Oh,  very  much  so,  very  much  so,  indeed.  She 
writes  quite  blithely,  more  like  her  old  self.  They 
were  very  anxious  that  I  should  go  to  Pau  with 
them  ;  but  I  felt  that  my  place  was  here.  I  felt  that  I 
should  be  unhappy  and  wretched  away  from  home 
until  I  hear  from  Godfrey.  Mr.  Morris,"  she  said 
suddenly,  and  with  a  change  of  tone  and  clasping 
her  hands  nervously  together  on  the  edge  of  the 
table,  "  where  do  you  think  my  son  is?" 

"  Ah,  that  is  beyond  me,"  said  the  curate,  shak- 
ing his  head. 


A  QUESTION:  173 

"  I  have  thought,  sometimes,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,  "  that  I  would  run  up  to  London  and  see  a 
clairvoyant.  Tell  me,  do  you  think  there  is  any- 
thing in  it?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  the  curate,  "  I  don't  know. 
Sometimes  I  think  there  must  be.  You  know 
Shakespeare  says,  '  There  are  more  things  in 
Heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  thy 
philosophy.'  Soothsayers  and  seers  have  been 
believed  in  from  the  time  of  earliest  history.  I 
don't  think  that  there  would  be  so  general  a  belief 
if  there  were  not  at  least  something  in  it.  Whether 
the  people  whom  you  employ  professionally  are  to 
be  depended  upon  is  another  question.  Of  course, 
up  in  Scotland,  away  in  the  Highlands,  where  the 
second  sight  is  an  undoubted  gift,  and  where  the 
seer  only  speaks  when  he  sees,  it  is  apparently 
reliable ;  but  these  people  to  whom  you  go  and  pay 
five  or  ten  shillings,  how  are  you  to  know  that 
they  see  anything,  that  the  whole  thing  is  not  a 
humbug  ?" 

"  True ;  and  yet,  if  one  said,  if  one  bargained, 
that  if  they  saw  nothing  they  should  be  honest  and 
say  so,  what  then  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  the  curate ;  "  it  might  do ; 
but  the  difficulty  is  to  get  reliable  information." 

"  You  would  not  be  utterly  shocked  if  you  knew 
that  I  had  gone  to  town  for  that  purpose  ?" 

"  My  dear  lady,"  said  the  curate,  looking  at  her 

straight  in  the  eyes,  "  I  should  not  be  shocked  at 

any  fair  means  by  which  you  strove  to  satisfy  your 

anxiety.     If  it  would  comfort  you  to  go  to  some 

15* 


1/4  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

clairvoyant  and  ask  for  information  concerning 
your  son,  far  be  it  from  me  to  say  one  word  that 
would  stop  you.  If  these  people  have  such  a 
power,  God  above  gave  it  to  them." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  SORROW   OF   OTHERS. 

MRS.  BLADENSBROOK,  however,  did  not  call  in 
the  good  offices  of  a  clairvoyant.  The  wind  was 
cold  and  bleak,  and  she  was  a  good  deal  troubled 
by  the  bronchial  affection  which  had  been  hanging 
about  her  for  several  years.  The  effort  of  going 
to  London  was  more  than  she  felt  inclined  to  face, 
and  so  she  stayed  at  Bladensbrook,  living  a  quiet, 
anxious,  monotonous  life.  So  far  as  Bladensbrook 
itself  was  concerned,  the  management  of  affairs  went 
on  precisely  as  they  had  done  at  anytime  since  the 
death  of  Godfrey's  father.  The  household  was 
managed  in  precisely  the  same  way,  except  that 
there  was  provision  for  no  visitors  made  beyond  a 
single  cover,  which  was  always  laid  for  Mr.  Morris. 
"  You  will  always  find  a  cover  laid  for  you,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  soon  after  the  Dangerfields  had 
gone  abroad.  "  I  am  never  out ;  I  have  never  any 
other  visitors.  You  will  never  find  yourself  de  trop 
or  anything  but  welcome,  therefore,  at  any  time  when 
you  wish  to  see  me,  or  when  you  think  it  would  be  a 
charity  to  come  and  relieve  my  loneliness,  remember 


THE   SORROW  OF  OTHERS.  175 

that  you  need  no  invitation,  that  your  chair  is 
always  set  ready  for  you." 

Mr.  Morris  availed  himself  very  often  of  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook's  invitation.  He  liked  her,. he  re- 
spected her,  he  admired  her,  and  he  was  intensely 
sorry  for  the  thick  cloud  of  apparently  impenetrable 
anxiety  and  sorrow  which  at  present  overshadowed 
her.  He  consulted  her  about  most  of  the  parish 
work,  and  her  charity  was  bestowed  through  his 
hands.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  always  been  very 
much  the  great  lady  to  the  poor  people  on  the 
estate.  No  widows  and  orphans  went  begging  in 
Bladensbrook,  the  old  were  never  hustled  into  the 
workhouse,  old  age  there  was  an  honourable  estate 
to  be  cared  for  rather  than  to  be  spurned,  widows 
were  helped  to  help  themselves,  aye,  and  helped 
substantially  and  with  sound,  practical  common 
sense ;  but  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  never  been  in 
the  habit  of  trotting  in  and  out  of  the  cottages  as 
so  many  Ladies  Bountiful  do,  pleased  to  have  their 
people  make  a  fuss  of  them,  pleased  to  sit  down  on 
the  newly-dusted  chair  and  hear  all  the  latest  news 
of  the  family,  and  gather  a  great  deal  of  gossip  as 
they  go  along  ;  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  never  been 
that  kind  of  woman.  She  had  been  just,  firm, 
kind,  but  decided,  and,  now  that  the  greatest  sorrow 
of  her  life  had  fallen  upon  her,  she  did  not  unbend 
from  her  former  habits  ;  on  the  contrary,  she  became 
to  all  those  outside  her  own  house  more  distant 
and  unapproachable  than  she  had  been  before. 

It  happened,  one  day,  that  Mr.  Morris  walked  up 
to  the  House  in  time  for  dinner.  Mrs.  Bladens- 


176  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

brook  had  just  come  down  into  the  little  drawing- 
room  after  changing  her  morning  dress  for  a  velvet 
tea-gown.  "  Oh,  is  that  you  ?"  she  said,  as  she 
perceived  that  she  had  a  visitor.  "  I  am  so  glad  to 
see  you.  I  have  been  feeling  so  dull  and  so  lonely 
all  the  day,  and  with  this  bitter  wind  I  was  afraid 
to  venture  outside  the  door.  I  was  in  two  minds 
whether  to  send  down  to  you  or  not  to  beg  you  to 
come  and  take  some  dinner  with  me." 

"And  I  have  come  most  opportunely  to  beg  for 
that  very  thing,"  said  the  big  parson,  taking  her 
hand  and  holding  it  between  both  of  his.  "  I  have 
a  sad  story  to  tell  you." 

"About  Godfrey?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  would  that  I  had.  No,  it  is  about  an- 
other widow  who  is  in  trouble  for  her  only  child, 
her  only  son." 

"Ah,  that  is ?" 

"  That  is  Mrs.  Daniels." 

"  Mrs.  Daniels  at  the  Fir  Cottage  ?  Oh,  I  am 
sorry  to  hear  that." 

"  And  I,  too.  It  seems  that  young  Daniels  was 
caught  poaching  last  night,  and  he  is  in  prison." 

"  Young  Daniels  ?     Impossible." 

"  It  seems  impossible.  His  mother  declares  that 
there  is  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  it.  He  was 
caught  red-handed, — well,  no,  not  exactly  that ;  he 
was  caught  coming  through  the  wood.  He  de- 
clared he  had  been  to  see  his  sweetheart ;  but  he 
won't  give  up  her  name  because  her  father  is  against 
the  marriage.  Her  father  thinks  that  she  is  a  cut 
above  him,  and  that  a  mere  labouring-man  with  an 


THE  SORROW  OF  OTHERS.  I// 

aged  mother  has  no  right  to  look  at  any  girl,  at 
least  not  this  particular  girl.  She  had  been  to  meet 
him  unknown  to  her  father,  and,  rather  than  give 
up  her  name,  he  prefers  to  take  a  punishment 
for  a  crime  which  he  swears  he  has  not  com- 
mitted." 

"  You  have  seen  him  ?" 

"  Yes ;  I  went  and  saw  him  in  the  lock-up  this 
morning.  He  is  very  firm,  looked  me  straight  in  the 
face,  declared  that  the  mistress  would  know  he  was 
incapable  of  poaching ;  traps  were  discovered,  game 
was  found  in  them,  but  young  Daniels  says  the 
traps  are  not  his,  and  he  had  no  knowledge  of 
their  being  there.  His  presence  was  a  pure  acci- 
dent. He  declares  that  you  will  never  believe  him 
guilty  of  anything  of  the  kind.  '  Why  should  I 
want  to  poach  ?'  he  said ;  '  I  have  no  wife  nor  child, 
and  as  for  the  old  mother,  if  she  fancied  a  chicken 
or  she  fancied  a  rabbit,  I  have  but  to  speak  to  the 
mistress,  and  I  know  she  would  have  it.' " 

"  That  is  true  enough,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  His  mother  is  coming  up  in  the  morning.  The 
magistrates  do  not  sit  for  two  days.  His  mother 
believes  that  she  will  be  able  to  put  things  right 
if  she  can  get  speech  of  you.  I  assure  you,  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  the  poor  old  soul  was  very  pathetic, 
very  noble  in  her  distress,  very  straight  in  her 
glance,  very  confident  of  your  being  above  ordi- 
nary suspiciousness  and  mischief-making.  '  I  will 
go  and  see  Madam  in  the  morning,'  said  she. 
'  Madam  will  know  better  than  to  be  influenced 
by  them  game-keepers ;  Madam  knows  them  that 


1/8  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

have  served  her  and  hers  for  generations.  .  I  am 
not  afraid  of  Madam's  mind  being  poisoned.'  " 

"  Poor  soul !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "  Yes,  I 
will  certainly  see  her  in  the  morning  when  she 
comes,  and  young  Daniels  won't  feel  much  the 
worse  for  having  been  kept  in  the  lock-up  for  a 
couple  of  days.  I  will  see  that  it  is  made  right." 

So,  when  Mrs.  Daniels  came  up  to  the  house  the 
following  morning,  dressed  in  decent  black  and 
with  a  warm  winter  shawl  which  had  been  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook's  own  gift  to  her,  she  was  shown 
straight  into  the  morning-room  where  the  mistress 
of  the  house  was  sitting.  "  Ah,  is  that  you,  Mrs. 
Daniels  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  as  the  old 
woman  stood  courtesying  before  her;  "  I  hear  that 
you  are  in  trouble  about  your  son." 

On  this  the  old  woman  poured  out  her  tale. 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  listened  kindly  enough,  and 
bade  her  sit  down  on  a  chair  just  on  the  other  side 
of  the  fireplace.  "  And  they  say  that  George  was 
poaching  ?"  she  said,  when  the  voluble  tongue  at 
last  came  to  an  end  of  the  recital. 

"  Oh,  my  lady,  they  do,  they  do  indeed,  but 
there's  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it,"  cried  the  old 
woman.  "Why  should  my  son  be  wanting  to 
poach  ?  He  is  in  regular  work  and  gets  good 
money,  and  it  isn't  much  of  a  burden  that  I  am  to 
him.  Thanks  to  Madam's  kindness,  I  have  my 
cottage  and  my  coals  and  my  bread  and  my  joint 
of  beef  every  week  from  the  butcher ;  what  more 
can  I  want?  As  for  rabbits  and  pheasants  and 
such-like,  I  am  hale  and  hearty,  and  I  have  not 


THE  SORROW  OF  OTHERS.  l?g 

been  used  to  such  things.  I  am  not  over-fond  of 
them.  As  for  George,  why,  my  boy  can  eat  any- 
thing. He  gets  plenty  of  good  meat,  and  a  better 
son  never  stepped,  Madam,  that  I  assure  you." 

"  He  won't  give  up  the  name  of  this  girl  ?" 

"  Well,  Madam,  how  can  I  ask  him  to  do  it  ? 
How  could  he  give  it  up  ?  Her  father  would  be 
fit  to  kill  her  if  he  knew.  She  is  above  my  George 
— not  too  good  for  him,  my  George  is  good 
enough  for  anybody,  my  lady — but  her  father  is  a 
man  of  money  and  a  man  of  solid  position,  and  he 
is  wild  with  her  for  liking  my  boy  better  than  some 
others.  He'd  be  fit  to  kill  her,  my  lady,  if  he 
knew." 

"  Well,  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  there  are  young 
men  who  will  think  of  their  sweethearts  first  and 
themselves  afterwards,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
very  kindly ;  "  all  men  ought  to  do  so,  Mrs. 
Daniels ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  a  great  many  men  do 
not  see  the  necessity  of  that.  I  will  see  the  magis- 
trates or  I  will  write.  I  will  see  them,  if  possible. 
The  Court  sits ?" 

"  To-morrow.  To-morrow  morning  at  eleven 
o'clock,  my  lady." 

"  I  shall  probably  go  down  myself.  I  will  take 
care  that  he  has  my  good  word,  in  any  case.  You 
see  I  am  troubled  with  my  chest,  and  I  have  some- 
thing here,"  pointing  to  her  chest ;  "  if  it  is  very 
cold  to-morrow,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  write ;  but  I 
will  do  something.  And  how  is  the  rheumatism  ?" 

"  Well,  my  lady,  it  is well,  to  tell  you  the 

truth,  I  had  forgotten  all  about  my  rheumatism. 


ISO  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

I've  been  so  anxious  these  few  hours  about  George. 
But  it  is  there,  my  lady ;  yes,  it  is  still  there;  and  it 
will  be  there  until  I  am  dead  and  gone." 

"It  won't  be  there  then,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,  smiling.  "  Well,  then,  you  may  go  down 
and  let  your  son  know  that  I  shall  speak  for  him  ; 
and  you  must  go  and  have  a  glass  of  wine  with 
Mrs.  Moore."  She  rang  the  bell  as  she  spoke  and 
told  the  servant  who  answered  it  to  take  Mrs. 
Daniels  into  the  house-keeper's  room  and  give  her 
a  glass  of  wine  and  some  cake.  "  And  do  you 
keep  up  a  good  heart  about  the  matter.  I  shall 
speak  for  your  son." 

The  footman  went  out  of  the  room  and  the  old 
woman  turned  back  to  the  lady  of  the  house. 
"  My  lady,"  she  said,  in  a  shaking  voice,  "  I  came 
to  you  in  the  blackest  hour  of  my  life.  I  am  poor, 
but  I  am  honest,  and  you  have  lifted  a  load  off  my 
heart  such  as  may  you  never  know  the  feeling  of. 
God  bless  you,  my  lady." 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  laid  her  white,  jewelled  hand 
upon  the  old  woman's  shawl-covered  shoulder. 
"  There,  there,"  she  said,  gently,  "  perhaps  I  know 
the  feeling  of  such  a  burden  as  well  as  you  do.  I 
have  a  son,  too,  and  I  know  not  whether  all  is  well 
with  him  or  not.  Pray  for  me,  my  good  soul,  that 
is  the  kindest  thing  you  can  do,"  and  then  she 
turned  back  to  the  fire,  and  the  old  woman  stum- 
bled out  of  the  room  too  blinded  by  her  tears  to 
see  quite  where  she  was  going.  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook stood  looking  into  the  fire,  contrasting  her 
lot  with  that  of  the  old  widow  and  thinking  how 


THE   SORROW  OF  OTHERS.  l8l 

very  near  their  common  human  interests  had 
brought  them.  "  Her  son  is  to  her  what  Godfrey 
is  to  me.  She  trusts  him  implicitly  because  she 
judges  him  out  of  the  past.  I  know  that  my  boy 
has  some  good  reason  for  his  silence.  I  will  trust 
him,  also." 

Later  in  the  day  she  received  a  long  letter  from 
Margot  Dangerfield  which  brought  the  sad  news 
that  the  Rector  had  taken  a  turn  for  the  worse. 
"  Father  is  very  ill,"  wrote  Margot,  "  and  the  doc- 
tors seem  to  think  that  his  complaint  had  made 
great  strides  forward  during  the  past  fortnight.  He 
seemed  so  well,  so  strong,  so  gay,  so  full  of  spirits 
and  energy,  that  I  fancied  he  was  going  to  get  over 
it  and  be  his  old  self  again.  The  doctor  doesn't 
put  it  into  plain  English,  but  he  gives  me  to  under- 
stand that  he  had  not  regarded  his  apparent  im- 
provement in  health  as  a  good  sign,  rather  that  it 
was  a  flicker  in  the  socket.  I  am  so  lonely  and  so 
frightened  here  alone  among  all  these  strangers. 
Though  they  are  very  kind  and  good  to  me,  still 
they  are  not  like  one's  own  people.  Aunt  Marcia 
is  in  Naples,  and  Father  is  particularly  averse  to  my 
sending  for  her.  He  says  she  would  worry  him  to 
death.  Dear  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  you  said  before 
we  left  home  that  if  he  was  worse  you  would  come 
to  me ;  will  you  keep  that  promise  now  if  it  is  not 
impossible  to  you  ?  I  want  somebody  to  lean  on. 
You  are  so  strong,  so  full  of  courage,  you  always 
know  what  to  do  in  every  emergency ;  but  I  am  so 
young,  so  ignorant  of  sickness,  I  get  more  fright- 
ened every  hour.  If  only  you  would  come  out  to 
16 


1 82  A  MAGNIPICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

me  I  should  bless  you  so.  You  don't  know  the 
load  it  would  take  off  my  mind." 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  laid  the  letter  down  with  a 
very  grave  face.  "  I  am  afraid  that  poor  child  has 
a  very  sad  experience  before  her,"  her  thoughts 
ran.  "  Of  course,  I  must  go  out  there.  I  can't 
leave  her  alone  to  face  what  is  coming.  Ah,  is 
that  you,  Matthew  ?  Yes,  I  am  glad  of  my  tea. 
Matthew,  I  have  just  had  a  letter  from  Miss  Dan- 
gerfield.  The  Rector  is  very  ill ;  I  am  afraid  we 
shall  never  see  him  here  again." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that,  Madam,"  said  Mat- 
thew, with  genuine  regret  in  face  and  tone.  "  I 
thought  the  Rector  looked  as  if  he  was  breaking 
up  the  very  last  time  he  dined  here." 

"  And  poor  Miss  Margot  is  all  alone  with  him 
i — all  alone,  Matthew.  She  seems  very  nervous 
and  very  excited.  I  think  that  I  shall  be  obliged 
to  go  and  look  after  them  a  little." 

"  Well,  M'm,  if  you  go,  there's  no  doubt  the  poor 
young  lady  will  be  helped  through  it  in  the  best 
possible  way.  It's  a  dreadful  time  of  the  year  to 
take  such  a  journey,  and  with  your  browntitis, 
too.  Don't  you  think,  M'm,  that  I  had  better  go 
along  with  you  ?  Me  and  Perkins  will  be  able  to 
take  care  of  you  all  right." 

"  Well,  Matthew,  I  don't  know  that  that  would 
not  be  a  good  plan.  Besides  that,  you  might  be  a 
great  deal  of  comfort  to  the  dear  Rector.  I  think 
you  had  better  make  your  arrangements,  and  be 
sure  that  you  leave  everything  here  in  train  so  that 
Robert  knows  exactly  what  to  do  if  Mr.  Bladens- 


THE  SORROW  OF  OTHERS.  183 

brook  comes  home  during  my  absence.  You  can 
arrange  everything — can  you  not  ? — without  leav- 
ing too  much  in  Robert's  hands  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  M'm,  of  course  I  can.  That  is  a  sim- 
ple matter.  I  can  leave  the  principal  keys  with 
Mrs.  Moore ;  everything  will  be  safe  with  her." 

"  Then,  Matthew,  I  think  you  had  better  make 
all  your  arrangements.  We  will  try  and  start  to- 
morrow afternoon,  and  we  can  get  across  to-morrow 
evening.  I  cannot  go  by  the  earliest  train  because 
young  Daniels  is  in  trouble,  and  I  must  go  down  to 
the  Court  House  and  speak  to  the  magistrates  for 
him.  You  might  send  down  to  the  Rectory  by 
and  by — now — and  ask  Mr.  Morris  if  he  could 
come  up  and  dine  with  me  to-night.  I  can  then  talk 
over  with  him  anything  that  he  wishes  done,  a'ny- 
thing  that  he  wishes  said  to  the  Rector.  To-mor- 
row I  shall  be  so  busy  I  shall  not  have  time  for  a 
word  with  anyone." 

"  I  will  send  down  at  once,  M'm,"  said  Matthew, 
settling  the  tea-tray  to  his  entire  satisfaction. 
"  Shall  I  mention  it  to  Perkins  when  she  comes  to 
tea,  M'm  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  certainly.  She  can  come  to  see  me 
when  she  has  had  her  tea ;  she  can  come  in  here  to 
me.  And,  Matthew,  send  off  a  telegram  at  once  to 
Miss  Dangerfield  at  the  St.  Antoine  Hotel,  Pau, 
France,  and  say  that  I  am  coming  to  her  at  once 
and  will  start  from  London  to-morrow  evening." 


1 84  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE   QUIET  END. 

As  soon  as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  arrived  at  Pau 
she  saw  that  the  Rector  was  a  great  deal  worse  in 
health  than  even  Margot  had  any  idea  of;  she  saw, 
indeed,  that  his  days  were  numbered,  and  that  the 
number  of  them  was  but  few.  He  was  sitting  near 
the  window  in  a  large  chair  with  pillows  behind 
him  and  a  rug  over  his  knees.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
went  up  to  him  and  took  his  hand.  "  Why,  my 
dear  old  friend,"  she  said,  in  as  bright  a  tone  as  she 
could  assume,  "  how  comes  it  that  I  find  you  like 
this  ?  I  have  changed  my  mind  and  come  out  for 
a  little  holiday,  and  I  find  you  have  suddenly  got 
ill,  just  when  you  ought  to  have  been  as  well  as 
possible,  so  as  to  give  me  a  good  time.  It  is  really 
very  inconsiderate  of  you.  I  am  afraid  you  have 
been  committing  some  indiscretion  or  other." 

"  I  don't  think  I  have,"  said  the  Rector ;  "  I 
have  been  very  queer  for  a  few  days  now,  but  I  am 
glad  you  have  come.  Margot  is  nervous  and  not 
up  to  very  much  in  the  way  of  sick  nursing ;  she 
looks  pale  and  anxious  and  worried,  and  she  thinks 
I  am  going  to  die  right  off." 

"  Oh,  come,  you  are  not  going  to  do  that,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  decidedly. 

"  Oh,  no,  no ;  I  shall  hang  on  a  little  while.     I 


THE    QUIET  END.  1 8$ 

don't  think,  all  the  same,  that  I  shall  ever  see 
Bladensbrook  again." 

"Oh,  nonsense!  You  mustn't  say  that.  Bladens- 
brook is  there,  and  you  must  come  back  to  it.  We 
cannot  do  without  you.  Now  that  I  have  come, 
mind  you  are  to  be  very  good.  I  have  brought 
Perkins  with  me.  Perkins  is  an  excellent  nurse,  and 
Perkins  will  have  no  mercy  on  you ;  when  Perkins 
brings  you  beef-tea,  you  will  have  to  drink  it;  when 
Perkins  says  it  is  time  for  your  medicine,  there  is 
no  disputing  the  point;  when  Perkins  says  it  is 
time  to  go  to  bed,  to  bed  you  go,  as  if  you  were  a 
child  of  two  years  old." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  will  do  all  that.  It  is  very  kind  of 
you  to  take  any  interest  in  me.  I  have  about  run 
my  course,  and  you  know  that  as  well  as  I  do." 

"  Well,  well,  we  will  not  give  way  for  the  sake 
of  the  child.  Remember,  you  will  leave  your  little 
girl  alone, — or  almost  alone, — and  you  must  keep 
a  good  heart  and  be  brave  for  her  sake.  You 
would  not  like  to  leave  her  to  some  people — Aunt 
Marcia,  for  instance  ?" 

"  No,  I  should  not ;  and  that  is  one  reason  why  I 
am  so  anxious  to  see  you  and  have  a  talk  with  you 
before — before — anything  does  happen.  If  I  do 
not  get  over  this — and  I  don't  think  I  shall — I 
should  like  to  lie  in  the  little  God's  acre  here.  I 
feel  as  if  I  should  rest  better  in  this  pure  air  with 
the  sunshine  always  shining  down  upon  my  grave. 
Don't  carry  me  home,  I  would  rather  be  left  where 
I  am.  And  about  my  will,  I  have  made  a  new  will, 
but  I  have  said  nothing  about  the  guardianship  of 
16* 


1 86  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

the  child.  Would  it  be  asking  you  too  much  if— 
if— I  asked  you  to  undertake  that  office  ?" 

"  I  will  be  Margot's  guardian  with  pleasure," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  gently.  "  Margot  and  I 
know  one  another  very  well,  and  I  think  we  are 
fond  of  one  another,  and  I  doubt  if  it  would  be 
for  very  long.  I  will  do  it  with  pleasure,  will  do 
anything  which  will  make  you  feel  happier  in  your 
mind  or  more  comfortable  concerning  her." 

"  That  is  very  good  of  you,"  said  the  Rector. 

"  But,  you  know,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on, 
assuming  a  brighter  tone,  "  you  may  be  giving  us 
all  this  scare  for  nothing.  I  have  very  little  faith 
in  you,  Rector,  very  little  faith.  You  have  cried 
'  wolf  so  many  times,  and  we  think  you  may  be 
mistaken  this  time." 

"  Well,  I  may  be,"  said  the  Rector,  "  I  may  be ; 
but  I  doubt  it.  I  think  the  doctor  chap  will  tell 
you  the  same  thing.  I  am  booked,  my  dear  lady. 
However,  now  that  my  mind  is  made  easy  about 
Margot,  I  may  as  well  tell  you  that  I  am  almost 
indifferent  one  way  or  the  other.  It  is  a  great 
effort  going  on  living  when  one  is  very  ill ;  when 
one  has  to  think  of  every  morsel  one  eats,  and 
every  place  where  one  chooses  to  sit  down,  and 
every  habit  that  one  has,  it  is  scarcely  worth  the 
trouble,  and  I  shall  not  be  sorry  to  go,  though, 
true,  I  have  one  great  regret  in  leaving  you  all, 
which  is  that  I  have  not  finished  my  great  book." 

"  I  wouldn't  trouble  about  the  book,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  who  had  a  very  small  opinion  of  the 
value  of  architectural  embellishments. 


THE   QUIET  END.  1 87 

They  brought  up  tea  and  fruit,  and  she  sat  there 
in  the  pleasant  afternoon,  entertaining  the  invalid 
with  all  the  latest  news  of  the  village  which  they 
both  loved  so  dearly.  She  ended  by  telling  him 
of  the  trouble  with  young  Daniels,  and  how  she 
had  had  herself  to  go  to  the  Court  House  to  give 
him  a  character,  and,  as  he  was  suspected  of  poach- 
ing her  game,  to  declare  her  belief  in  his  inno- 
cence. "  You  know,  of  course,  game-keepers  and 
such  people  are  very  pig-headed,  and  I  am  almost 
afraid  that  there  has  been  a  certain  amount  of 
jealousy  at  work.  You  see,  young  Daniels  is  very 
respectable,  and  his  mother  is  a  woman  who  keeps 
herself  very  much  to  herself;  and  Lennard,  who, 
of  course,  is  an  excellent  game-keeper  and  quite 
a  valuable  servant,  would  like  to  have  Mrs.  Dan- 
iels's  house  for  his  young  son,  who  is  going  to 
be  married — you  know,  the  under-keeper." 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes ;  that  would  be  a  very  comfortable 
arrangement." 

"  Now,  Mrs.  Daniels's  husband  was  in  our  em- 
ployment— oh,  well,  long  before  I  came  on  the 
scene — and  I  am  quite  sure  nothing  would  have 
displeased  my  husband  so  much  as  to  know  that 
she  was  turned  out  of  the  cottage,  whether  for 
a  game-keeper  or  an  under-keeper  or  anybody 
else ;  and  Godfrey,  of  course,  feels  precisely  the 
same." 

"  And  you  have  news  of  Godfrey  ?"  said  the 
Rector,  turning  his  haggard  face  towards  her. 

"  No,  I  have  no  news.  I  have  not  heard  a 
word.  If  I  had  not  such  trust  and  confidence  in 


1 88  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Godfrey,  I  should  have  begun  to  despair  long 
before  this." 

'•  You  still  believe  that  he  is  alive  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  and  also  that  he  has  a  good  reason  for 
his  extraordinary  silence." 

"  It  is  a  great  thing  for  Godfrey,"  said  the  Rec- 
tor, "  that  he  has  a  mother  who  can  trust  in  him 
implicitly  in  the  face  of  all  apparent  evidence  to 
the  contrary.  I  have  thought  a  great  deal  about 
him  since  we  left  home,  and  especially  since  I 
have  been  a  prisoner  in  this  room.  I  hope  you 
are  right." 

"I  feel  sure  I  am  right,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook. 

"  I  hope  so ;  for  I  have  known  and  liked  Godfrey 
ever  since  he  was  a  baby ;  and  yet  it  seems  so  in- 
explicable ;  it  seems  so  unlike  him.  I  cannot  make 
it  out." 

"  Nor  I,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  of  having  taken 
Matthew  with  her  to  Pau  lay  in  the  fact  that  he 
was  able  to  while  away  time  with  the  Rector  as, 
perhaps,  nobody  else  could  have  done.  "  You 
know,  dear  Rector,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  two 
or  three  days  after  her  arrival,  "  the  child  is  look- 
ing very  ill." 

"  I  think  she  is  worried  to  death,"  said  the  Rec- 
tor, "  here  in  a  strange  land,  and  my  being  so  ill, 
and  really  so  unexpectedly  ill.  I  think  she  got 
frightened  and  nervous." 

"  Well,  yes,  I  thought  so  too ;  but  she  is  looking 
ill.  I  don't  like  that  drawn  look  she  has  at  all. 


THE   QUIET  END.  189 

You  must  let  me  take  her  out  for  a  few  drives 
and  give  her  as  much  fresh  air  as  possible." 

"  Oh,  yes ;  do,  do,"  said  the  Rector ;  "  I  shall  be 
all  right.  By  the  bye,  Matthew  could  come  and 
talk  to  me.  Matthew  could  come  and  play  cribbage 
with  me.  I  believe  Matthew  is  a  first-rate  hand 
at  cribbage." 

"  I  shouldn't  be  at  all  surprised,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook,  who  had  that  kind  of  faith  in  Matthew 
which  was  ready  to  credit  him  with  any  accom- 
plishment. She  took  an  opportunity,  an  hour  or 
so  later,  of  sounding  Matthew  upon  the  subject 
of  cribbage.  "  Matthew,"  she  said,  "  can  you  play 
cribbage?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  M'm ;  I  am  reckoned  a  very  good 
cribbage  player." 

"  Well,  now,  I  tell  you  what,  my  good  Matthew, 
you  shall  do.  I  am  feeling  very  uneasy  about  Miss 
Dangerfield.  She  looks  so  ill,  so  drawn,  I  think 
the  anxiety  of  her  father's  condition  has  told  upon 
her  terribly.  I  am  going  to  take  her  about  a  little, 
to  get  a  few  drives,  to  give  her  fresh  air,  and  to 
distract  her  thoughts  somewhat  from  the  trial  that 
lies  before  her,  and  you  can  stop  with  the  Rector 
and  play  cribbage  with  him.  He  loves  it ;  he  is 
very  anxious  that  Miss  Dangerfield  should  be 
distracted  a  little  from  her  present  sad  surround- 
ings." 

"  Very  good,  M'm." 

Accordingly  that  very  afternoon  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook  and  Margot  went  for  a  long  drive  together. 
"  I  want  to  see  colour  in  those  pale  cheeks,  Mar- 


190  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

got,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  looking  at  her  criti- 
cally. Margot  flushed  a  vivid  scarlet.  "  Nay, 
child,  there's  nothing  to  blush  at,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook. "  Your  poor  looks  are  but  natural  in 
the  face  of  all  the  anxiety  and  strain  that  you  have 
been  suffering ;  but,  now  that  I  have  come  to 
relieve  you,  I  will  take  care  that  you  get  more 
fresh  air  and  more  distraction  than  you  have  had 
so  far.  You  will  need  it  all,"  she  said,  in  a  lower 
tone. 

"  Oh,  indeed,  yes ;  I  know  that  I  shall  need  it 
all,"  said  Margot. 

They  had  turned  homewards  again  before  Margot 
ventured  to  ask  a  question  which  had  been  trem- 
bling on  her  lips  ever  since  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's 
arrival.  "  You  have  no  news  of  Godfrey,  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  ?" 

"  None,  my  dear,  none.  He  is  as  silent  as  if  the 
grave  had  opened  and  swallowed  him ;  more  silent, 
indeed ;  because  I  feel  convinced  that  if  he  were 
dead  he  would  have  come  back  just  to  let  me 
know.  I  cannot  make  it  out.  I  have  suffered 
dreadfully  since  you  left  home ;  Bladensbrook  is 
like  a  graveyard  to  me — full  of  broken  hopes." 

The  two  drove  together  every  day,  sometimes 
twice,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  much  colour  came 
back  into  Margot's  cheeks,  or  that  she  looked  less 
ill  than  she  had  done  for  some  little  time  past. 
She  stayed  a  great  deal  with  her  father  when  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  did  not  carry  her  off  in  the  carriage, 
playing  all  manner  of  games  with  him,  and  often 
reading  aloud  to  him  from  the  lighter  journals  of 


THE    QUIET  END.  '9! 

the  day.  And  so  the  time  wore  on,  with  each  day 
the  Rector  growing  weaker  and  weaker,  less  able 
to  do  anything  for  himself,  not  suffering  much 
except  from  an  overpowering  weariness,  which 
from  time  to  time  seemed  entirely  to  overcome 
him.  He  never  complained.  Many  of  the  Eng- 
lish residents,  knowing  his  position  and  the  nature 
of  his  illness,  came  to  see  him  or  sent  him  frequent 
gifts  of  flowers  or  loans  of  books  and  papers.  "  So 
kind  of  everybody,"  he  said  several  times,  "  so  good 
of  people  to  come  and  tire  themselves  by  sitting 
with  an  invalid  whom  they  really  don't  know.  It 
is  the  fashion  to  call  this  a  hard  world,  but  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  goodness  in  it;  and  if  sometimes  it 
is  so  latent  that  it  seems  not  to  be  there,  we  may 
always  comfort  ourselves  with  the  feeling  that  it  is 
there,  that  it  only  needs  some  trifling  incident  to 
bring  it  out,  to  bring  it  all  to  the  surface." 

Then  there  came  a  few  days  in  which  the  invalid 
was  considerably  worse ;  these  in  turn  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  few  hours  of  semi-unconsciousness, 
and  then — there  was  no  Rector  of  Bladensbrook. 
Margot  had  no  father.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  old 
friend  had  passed. 


:()2  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER   XX. 

MRS.    BLADENSBROOK    ASKS   A   PLAIN   QUESTION. 

IN  all  her  life,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  never  been 
so  much  surprised  as  she  was  by  Margot's  manner 
during  this  time.  She  had  expected  in  one  so 
young  a  great  outburst  of  grief  when  the  knowl- 
edge of  her  grea  t  loss  fell  upon  her.  Those  who 
have  been  watching  during  a  long  and  anxious 
period  the  gradual  dissolution  of  those  nearest  and 
dearest  to  them,  those  who  have  known  for  a  long 
time  that  the  end  was  certain  and  almost  what  the  end 
would  be,  frequently — nay,  generally — give  way  to 
great  grief  when  the  actual  wrench  comes ;  but 
with  Margot  nothing  of  the  kind  happened.  When 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  turned  from  the  bedside  and 
made  as  if  to  draw  her  away,  saying,  "  We  can  do 
nothing  more  for  him,  dear.  It  is  all  over,"  Mar- 
got  remained  apparently  perfectly  unmoved.  She 
was  as  white  as  death  and  looked  worn  out,  but  no 
tears  came,  no  signs  of  grief  showed  themselves, 
and  it  seemed  to  the  older  woman's  keen  eyes  as 
if  her  expression  were  one  almost  of  relief.  On 
the  face  of  it  that  seemed  impossible,  and  yet  she 
could  not  shake  off  the  impression  that  it  was  so. 
Jim,  the  elder  of  the  two  boys,  who  had  arrived 
two  days  before  from  England,  was  standing  look- 
ing down  upon  his  dead  father,  his  face  convulsed, 
tears  streaming  down  his  cheeks. 


MRS.   BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.    193 

"  Come,  Margot,  we  car  do  nothing  more,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  She  was  afraid  that  this  unnat- 
ural calm  would  end  in  a  terrible  storm  of  grief; 
but  as  the  hours  wore  on  Margot  did  not  give  way 
at  all,  but  stayed  quiet  and  silent  with  that  strange, 
crushed  look  in  her  young  face  which  seemed  out 
of  place  even  in  her  sad  circumstances.  According 
to  the  Rector's  wishes,  expressed  so  plainly  to 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  there  was  no  thought  or  ques- 
tion of  their  taking  all  that  was  left  of  him  home 
for  burial.  A  grave  was  chosen  in  the  sunniest 
part  of  the  pretty  cemetery,  and  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook gave  orders  that  it  should  be  lined  with 
moss  and  studded  with  flowers.  Most  of  the 
English  people  staying  in  the  place  attended  the 
funeral,  and  many  wreaths  and  beautiful  blossoms 
were  sent  as  a  last  tribute  to  one  who  had  died  so 
far  from  home.  The  will  was  in  charge  of  an  Eng- 
lish solicitor  staying  for  a  couple  of  months  in 
Pau,  and  he  made  the  contents  known  to  the  son 
and  daughter  in  a  friendly  and  informal  fashion. 

"  You  see,  Margot,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
"your  dear  father  left  me  your  guardian.  Of 
course,  it  will  not  be  for  very  long ;  and  I  hope, 
dear,  it  will  never  be  irksome  to  you.  I  am  a  very 
lonely  woman,  with  a  thick  cloud  of  sorrow  over 
my  life ;  you  have  passed  under  a  bitter  experience, 
and  that  should  be  enough  to  draw  us  closer  to- 
gether than  we  have  ever  been.  We  will  go  home 
to  Bladensbrook  and  make  all  necessary  arrange- 
ments. There  is  so  much  to  be  done." 

"  What  is  there  to  do  ?"  asked  Margot. 
i       n  17 


194  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN, 

"  Well,  dear,  in  the  first  place,  the  living  must  be 
filled  up  within  a  certain  time  or  else  my  right  to 
make  a  presentation  lapses  to  the  bishop.  Then 
we  must  arrange  what  to  do  with  all  the  things  at 
the  Rectory." 

"  But  J  thought  Father  said  they  were  all  to  be 
sold,"  said  Margot. 

"  Well,  dear,  there  are  some  things  which  you 
and  the  boys  will  naturally  wish  to  keep — portraits 
and  silver  and  such  things  would  only  be  thrown 
away  in  a  sale.  Your  father  particularly  leaves 
instructions  that  personal  things  are  to  be  divided 
between  you  and  the  boys  as  you  may  agree 
among  yourselves.  Anything  that  you  wish  to 
keep  you  can  do  so ;  it  is  merely  the  residue  that 
he  directs  to  be  sold.  Of  course,  it  would  be  too 
dreadful  to  think  that  your  mother's  portrait  should 
be  put  up  to  auction,  and  there  are  many  other 
things  almost  of  equal  value." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  know  that.  One  wouldn't  like  any 
of  Mother's  china  to  be  thrown  away,  she  was  so 
fond  of  it.  I  don't  know  that  either  I  or  the  boys 
care  for  it  as  she  did,  or  ever  will  do  so,  because 
Mother  was  quite  an  expert  in  old  china,  and  knew 
by  the  mere  feel  of  a  thing  where  it  had  come  from 
and  how  old  it  was — I  mean  what  pottery  it  had 
come  from." 

"  Yes,  yes,  dear,  your  mother  was  an  excellent 
judge  of  china.  I  always  consulted  her  when  I 
bought  anything  of  importance.  I  am  thinking  of 
offering  the  living  to  Mr.  Morris.  I  like  him  and 
Godfrey  likes  him  very  much ;  also  he  worked  well 


MRS.   BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.    195 

with  your  father,  and  he  is  very  popular  with  the 
people,  so  that  I  don't  think  that  I  could  make  a 
wiser  choice  or  one  less  calculated  to  hurt  you 
young  people  in  any  way." 

"  Oh,  we  would  rather  have  him  than  any  one," 
said  Margot,  brightening  up  a  little ;  "  isn't  that  so, 
Jim  ?" 

"  Yes,  certainly,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  Morris  is 
a  good  fellow,  and  Father  thought  no  end  of  him. 
It  must  hurt  when  those  who  are  appointed  make  it 
their  first  duty  to  upset  every  institution  in  the  parish. 
You  remember,  Margot,  when  Greenhaugh  died. 
He  was  rather  inclined  to  be  High  Church,  and  the 
new  man  was  a  perfect  iconoclast  and  tore  down 
everything,  Really,  it  seemed  to  those  looking  on 
as  if  he  had  done  it  because  it  was  there  a  memento 
of  his  predecessor.  I  am  quite  sure  that  Father 
himself  would  have  said, '  Give  it  to  Morris,'  if  you 
had  asked  him  who  was  to  follow  him." 

"Then  that  decides  me,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook ;  "  that  also  will  make  it  very  much  easier 
when  we  go  back  again.  There  will  be  many 
things  that  he  will  be  glad  to  take  over  from  you, 
being  a  bachelor  and  living  already  in  the  house. 
The  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  give  him  the  choice 
of  taking  the  entire  furniture  at  a  valuation  after 
you  three  have  taken  away  the  things  that  you 
wish  to  keep  for  yourselves.  I  shall  write  to  him 
at  once  about  it." 

"  Then  when  shall  we  go  back  ?"  asked  Jim. 

"  My  dear  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  it 
depends  partly  upon  how  long  your  leave  lasts." 


196  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Oh,  I  have  got  a  fortnight's  leave,  and  can  get 
an  extension  for  a  few  days,  if  necessary." 

"  Well,  supposing  that  we  go  back  on  Tuesday  ? 
That  would  give  you  a  few  days  at  Bladensbrook. 
The  best  thing  to  do  will  be  to  take  all  the  silver, 
all  the  china,  and  all  the  pictures  of  interest  and 
any  pieces  of  furniture  that  you  fancy  and  pack 
them  all  safely  at  the  House.  Then,  when  Jack 
comes  home,  you  can  amicably  settle  which  of  you 
will  take  which.  It  would  be  a  great  thing  to  get 
the  whole  business  over  and  done  with  as  soon  as 
possible,  and,  as  you  and  I  are  the  executors,  it 
can  be  done  quite  easily,  without  any  fuss  or  disa- 
greement." 

"  There  will  be  no  disagreement,"  said  Jim. 

"  No,  my  dear ;  I  don't  mean  to  imply  that  there 
can  be  ;•  but  under  some  circumstances,  of  course, 
such  a  business  might  be  exceedingly  disagreeable. 
I  suppose,  Margot,"  she  went  on,  "that  your 
mother's  jewellery  was  put  away  ?" 

"  Oh,  Father  gave  me  all  the  jewellery,"  said 
Margot;  "  and  he  always  said  that  the  boys  were  to 
have  all  the  silver,  because  he  wanted  me  to  have 
mother's  jewellery." 

"  I  see.  Then  that  makes  it  still  more  easy, 
Jim.  Shall  we  so  decide  ?" 

"  Certainly.     Just  as  you  like." 

"  I  do  think  it  would  be  the  best." 

"  You  are  going  to  drive  this  afternoon  ?"  asked 
Margot. 

"  Yes,  dear,  we  may  as  well." 

"  Then  I  will  go  and  get  ready." 


MRS.   BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.    197 

She  left  the  room  and  for  a  minute  or  two  neither 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  nor  Jim  spoke.  At  last  Jim 
got  up  and  went  to  the  window,  where  he  stood 
with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  looking  out  into  the 
sunlight.  "  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ?"  he  said,  at  last. 

"Yes,  Jim." 

"  Do  you  think  Margot  looks  all  right  ?" 

"  No,  my  dear  boy,  I  think  she  looks  all  wrong," 
was  her  prompt  reply.  "  Of  course,  one  expects 
her  to  be  terribly  upset  by  our  loss." 

"  But  she  is  so  unlike  what  I  should  have  ex- 
pected her  to  be.  Have  you  noticed  it  ?" 

"  I  am  very  uneasy  about  her,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook. "  But  perhaps,  when  she  gets  home  and 
away  from  the  place  where  she  has  been  alone 
with  her  anxiety,  she  will  feel  different  about  it. 
If  not,  I  must  take  her  away  somewhere  else. 
Poor  little  girl,  I  am  so  sorry  for  her.  It  seems  so 
sad,  when  they  were  so  happy  together,  that  he 
should  have  been  taken  like  this." 

"  You  don't  mind  being  left  Margot's  guardian, 
do  you  ?"  Jim  asked,  after  a  moment's  pause. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  boy,  your  father  consulted  me 
about  it.  I  would  have  done  anything  to  give  him 
a  little  ease  of  mind ;  and  I  am  very  fond  of  Mar- 
got;  she  has  always  been  a  great  favourite  of  mine. 
And,  now  that  I  am  so  lonely — not  knowing  where 
Godfrey  is  or  what  has  become  of  him  or  whether 
I  shall  ever  see  him  again — it  will  be  a  ^perfect 
God-send  to  me  to  have  this  young  companion,  I 
was  going  to  say  this  gay  young  thing,  about  me, 
but  there  is  little  gaiety  about  the  poor  child  now. 

17* 


198  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Still,  as  she  gets  over  this  she  will  be  more  as  she 
used  to  be.  It  is  early  days  for  her  to  have  for- 
gotten or  to  have  even  tried  to  take  up  the  ordinary 
threads  of  life  again." 

In  truth,  Margot  was  a  veiy  great  puzzle  both  to 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  Jim.  In  manner  and  ex- 
pression she  was  utterly  changed.  She  seemed  to 
be  wrapped  up  in  an  impenetrable  shroud  of  cogi- 
tation, her  thoughts  always  seemed  to  be  far  away. 
She  talked  a  little  as  they  drove  that  afternoon, 
very  quietly  and  collectedly,  but  seemed  to  take 
little  or  no  interest  in  the  scenery,  and  had  never  a 
smile  on  her  face. 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  get  home  to  Bladensbrook," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  to  her  that  evening  as  they 
sat  together  after  dinner. 

Margot  turned  a  pair  of  startled  eyes  upon  her. 
"  To  go  home  ?"  she  repeated.  "  No,  I  don't  think 
I  shall  be  glad  to  go  home  at  all.  I  wish  that  I 
were  never  going  home  again." 

"  But,  my  dear  child,  I  know  exactly  what  you 
mean.  It  will  be  painful,  very  painful,  going  home 
to  what  will  practically  be  an  empty  house ;  but  it 
will  soon  be  over,  and  the  sooner  it  is  done  the  less 
you  will  feel  it." 

"  I  was  not  thinking  of  that,"  said  Margot. 

"  Then  of  what  were  you  thinking,  dear  ?  Of 
the  future  ?  You  know  you  and  I  will  be  very 
happy  .together,  and  by  and  by  perhaps  you  will 
— marry,  who  knows." 

"  Oh,  no,"  cried  Margot ;  "  you  don't  under- 
stand. I — I — shall  never  do  that.  Of  course,  it 


MRS.    BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.   199 

is  very  kind  of  you  to  let  me  be  with  you  and  to 
live  with  you,  and — I — I — only  hope  that  you 
may  never  repent  it,  but  I  am  afraid  you  may." 

"  Repent  having  you  to  live  with  me,  Margot ! 
Oh,  nonsense !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  very 
kindly.  "  It  is  entirely  my  gain.  I  am  delighted 
that  your  father  chose  me  to  be  your  guardian.  I 
have  always  longed  for  a  daughter,  and,  as  I  have 
not  one  of  my  own,  you  will  be  just  the  same 
to  me.  I  daresay,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on, 
"  that  your  Aunt  Marcia  will  want  you  to  pay  her 
a  long  visit.  Would  you  care  for  that  ?" 

"  I  would  rather  die,"  said  Margot.  "  Aunt 
Marcia  is  tiresome  enough  at  ordinary  times.  I 
could  not  bear  to  be  with  her  now.  I — I — should 
go  mad,  I  think." 

"  My  poor  child,  you  shall  not  do  that ;  nobody 
can  force  you  to  go ;  my  consent  is  necessary  for 
anything  that  you  would  require  to  do,  and  I 
should  certainly  not  allow  you  to  go  anywhere 
where  you  would  be  unhappy.  I  only  say  that 
she  would  expect  it,  and,  of  course,  it  is  no  use 
quarrelling  with  your  aunt  for  nothing,  and,  of 
course,  there  are  considerations  that  make  it  better 
that  you  should  keep  in  with  her." 

"  I  would  rather  not  go  to  Aunt  Marcia's  at 
present,"  said  Margot.  "  I  couldn't  bear  it." 

"  Then  you  shall  stay  at  Bladensbrook  with  me," 
said  the  lady  in  a  tone  that  evidently  decided  the 
question  for  her,  but  Margot's  spirits  did  not  rise 
at  all. 

The  days  went  by  and  with  each  one  that  came 


200  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

she  seemed  to  be  more  wrapped  up  in  her  own 
thoughts  and  to  look  more  strained  and  anxious. 

"You  know  you  are  looking  very  ill,  Margot," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  abruptly,  to  her  on  the 
day  before  they  were  to  start  for  home. 

Margot  flushed  a  vivid  scarlet.  "  I — I — am  not 
very  well,"  she  stammered. 

"  My  dear,  you  are  very  far  from  well.  I  think 
I  have  never  seen  anyone  whose  looks  changed  so 
much.  You  are  not  like  the  same  girl." 

"  I  am  not  the  same  girl,"  said  Margot. 

"  But,  my  dear,  it  is  not  right  that  you  should 
grieve  for  your  father  in  this  way.  He  was  quite 
willing  to  go,  and  he  would  have  suffered  more 
and  more  had  he  lived  longer.  It  is  no  use  griev- 
ing and  fretting  for  those  that  have  left  us,  how- 
ever dear  they  may  have  been ;  however  dear  they 
may  be  to  us  still.  It  is  better  to  resign  ourselves 
to  the  will  of  Heaven.  I  am  sure  your  father 
would  be  the  very  first  to  say  so  if  he  were  here 
now." 

Margot  opened  her  mouth  as  if  to  speak,  but  shut 
it  again  without  saying  a  word.  In  truth,  a  denial 
of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  words  had  risen  to  her  lips, 
and  she  had  almost  blurted  out  that  she  was  not 
grieving  after  or  fretting  for  her  father ;  that  much 
as  she  had  loved  him  and  empty  as  life  seemed  to 
her  then  without  him,  yet  her  chief  feeling  at  the 
time  of  his  death  had  been  one  of  intensest  relief. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  on.  "  And  you  know, 
dear,  I  don't  want  to  compare  my  trouble  with 
yours  in  any  way ;  but  you  should  remember  that 


MRS.   BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.    2OI 

you  know  the  worst.  You  know  that  your  father  is 
at  peace,  at  rest  forever,  while  I  go  on  day  after 
day,  week  after  week,  month  after  month,  in  abso- 
lute ignorance  of  whether  my  boy  is  alive  or  dead. 
Think  if  you  were  in  my  case." 

"  I  do,"  said  Margot.  Of  a  truth  she  was  so 
exactly  in  the  same  situation  as  her  guardian  that 
it  seemed  almost  ludicrous  to  her  to  have  stress 
laid  upon  the  difference  between  their  feelings,  be- 
tween what  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  knew  of  her  own 
and  imagined  Margot's  to  be.  "  I  am  not  repining 
after  Father  at  all,"  said  Margot,  presently.  "  Dear 
Daddy,  he  was  so  good,  so  kind,  so  true  and  loyal, 
and  he  made  so  much  of  us  all.  It  will  be  dread- 
ful going  back  to  see  the  Rectory  without  him — 
however  nice  Mr.  Morris  is,  he  is  not  Daddy.  To 
think  of  going  back  to  the  Rectory  to  root  every- 
thing out  from  its  place,  to  break  up  what  has  been 
our  home  ever  since  we  can  remember,  is  abhorrent 
and  dreadful,  to  me,  at  all  events,  and  I  believe  to 
poor  old  Jim  also." 

"  My  dear,  it  will  be  a  dreadful  wrench,  but  the 
sooner  it  is  over  the  sooner  you  will  put  it  back  in 
the  past,  and  I  hope  think  about  it  no  more.  After 
all,  it  will  be  better  if  Mr.  Morris  decides  to  take 
over  the  furniture  from  you ;  it  will  be  better  to 
think  that  he,  who  loved  your  father,  who  worked 
with  him  so  well,  is  to  use  all  the  familiar  things 
rather  than  that  they  are  scattered  to  the  four 
winds  of  Heaven,  a  bit  here,  a  piece  there,  so  that 
they  can  never  be  gathered  together  again." 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  so,"  said  Margot.     "  Of  course 


2O2  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

he  will  have  the  living,  and  equally,  of  course,  he 
will  be  glad  to  take  the  furniture,  but  I  dread  going 
back  to  Bladensbrook — oh,  so  much,  you  don't 
know." 

"  I  know,  dear  child,  I  can  see  it  in  your  sad 
little  face.  Margot,  you  are  strangely  altered." 

"  Oh,  don't  tell  me  that  again,"  said  Margot.  "  I 
know  that  I  am  altered,  I  know  it  so  well.  I  am 
altered.  I  am  not  the  same  girl  I  was.  I  feel 
sometimes  as  if  I  would  like  to  go  away  and  lose 
myself." 

Her  words  and  the  manner  of  uttering  them 
caused  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  to  look  at  her  still  more 
keenly.  Margot,  unable  to  bear  the  close  scrutiny, 
jumped  up  from  her  chair  and  went  over  to  one 
of  the  windows  where  she  stood  half  turned  away, 
looking  out.  There  was  a  long  silence,  such  a 
silence  as  comes  but  seldom  into  our  lives,  a  silence 
which  can  actually  be  felt,  then  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
put  down  her  magazine  and  went  across  the  room 
to  where  the  girl  was  standing.  "  Margot,"  she 
said,  laying  her  hand  upon  her  shoulder  and 
speaking  in  quite  a  different  tone,  "  what  are  you 
brooding  over  ?" 

"Brooding?"  said  Margot,  turning  scarlet. 

"  Yes,  my  child,  brooding.  You  have  some- 
thing on  your  mind,  something  that  is  not  con- 
nected with  your  father's  death.  What  is  it  ?" 

"  Oh,  what  should  make  you  think  that  ?"  asked 
Margot,  nervously. 

"  Your  strange  manner,  your  more  than  strange 
words,  and  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes,"  said 


MRS.  BLADENSBROOK  ASKS  A    QUESTION.    203 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  very  quietly.  "  Margot,  my 
dear  child,  daughter  of  my  old  friend,  I  am  afraid 
that  somebody  has  deceived  you." 

Margot's  shoulder  shrank  a  little  under  the 
touch  of  the  kind,  firm  hand.  She  kept  her  face 
averted,  but  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  could  see  that  the 
outline  of  the  cheek — not  so  round  as  it  once  was 
— was  flaming  crimson.  "  I — I — am  not  quite 
what  you  think  me,"  said  Margot,  painfully,  after 
a  long  silence. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  mind  went  back  swiftly 
over  the  immediate  past,  back  to  the  moment  of 
the  Rector's  death,  when  Jim  had  stood  by  the 
bedside  with  the  tears  chasing  one  another  swiftly 
down  his  cheeks,  and  Margot's  expression  had 
been  one  of  intensest  relief.  It  had  puzzled  her 
at  the  time,  now  she  clearly  understood.  It  was 
relief  that  her  father  had  died  without  learning  the 
truth.  "  Have  you  nothing  to  tell  me  ?"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  at  last. 

"  No — nothing,"  said  Margot. 

"  Don't  you  mean  to  confide  in  me  ?" 

"  I  cannot." 

"  Why  not  ?" 

"  Because  I  am  under  a  solemn  promise  to  be- 
tray nothing." 

"  But,  my  dear  child,  this  cannot  go  on ;  this 
cannot  be  hidden  ;  this  is  bound  to  come  out — and 
before  long.  What  are  you  thinking  of  doing  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Margot.  "  I  am  trusting 
to  time  and  chance." 

"  It  is  no  use  trusting  to  time  and  chance  in  such 


2O4  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

circumstances.  You  must  act,  you  must  think, 
we  must  plan.  This  must  be  kept." 

"  If  it  can  be  kept,"  said  the  girl. 

" It  will  not  be  easy;  but  it  must  be  done.  My 
God  !  To  think  how  near  your  father  came  to  know- 
ing everything.  It  would  have  broken  his  heart." 

"  No,"  said  Margot ;  "  because  he  would  have 
understood." 

"  Margot,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, "  I  am  your 
guardian.  I  am  your  only  friend ;  I  am  the  only 
person  in  the  world  that  you  can  safely  confide  in. 
I  was  your  dead  father's  friend  ;  your  dead  mother's 
friend  likewise ;  there  is  one  question  which  I  must 
ask  you  and  which  you  must  answer — Who  de- 
ceived you  ?" 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

GOING    HOME. 

WHEN  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  put  that  direct  ques- 
tion to  Margot,  the  girl  moved  away  for  the  first 
time  from  the  kindly  sheltering  hand  lying  upon 
her  shoulder.  "  Who  deceived  you  ?"  she  asked. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,"  answered  Margot. 

"  My  dear,  you  cannot  keep  it  a  secret." 

"  I  not  only  can,  but  I  will.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook," 
she  said,  and  then  she  turned  round  and  flung  her- 
self upon  her  knees  at  the  older  woman's  feet, 
clasping  her  gown  on  either  side  and  looking  up 
with  her  white,  pinched  face  full  of  piteous  entreaty 


GOING   HOME.  20$ 

mingled  with  firmness,  "  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  you 
have  known  me  all  my  life;  you  know  that  I  am 
not  a  bad  girl ;  you  know  that  I  am  not  the 
kind  of  girl  who  would  do  an  unforgivable  thing ; 
will  you  grant  me  one  favour  ?  I  know  it  is 
the  very  hardest,  the  most  difficult,  the  most  im- 
possible that  I  can  ask  you,  but  will  you  trust  me? 
Some  day  I  shall  be  able  to  satisfy  you  absolutely 
that  I  have  done  no  wrong.  I  cannot  answer 
your  question.  Will  you  promise  me  that  you  will 
stand  by  me — in — the  time  coming,  that  you  will 
help  me  to  keep  this  back  from  my  brothers  until 
such  time  as  they  and  everybody  else  may  know 
the  whole  truth  ?  Will  you  trust  me  so  far  that 
you  will  ask  me  no  question,  that  you  will  try  to 
find  out  nothing  ?  Oh,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  I  can't 
tell  you  what  a  load  you  will  take  off  my  mind  if 
you  will  only  do  that  for  me.  It  is  so  much  to  me, 
it  would  be  so  little  to  you." 

"  But  why  can  you  not  tell  me  ?"  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook asked. 

"  Because  I  have  given  my  word  that  until  a 
certain  time  has  passed  I  will  confide  in  nobody, 
tell  nobody,  bear  anything  that  comes.  If  you 
won't  help  me,  what  can  I  do  ?  Where  can  I  go  ? 
I  am  your  prisoner.  I  have  no  refuge  but — death." 

"  My  dear  child,  don't  talk  such  nonsense,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  almost  sternly  "  What  has  a 
young  thing  like  you  to  do  with  death,  excepting 
when  it  comes  in  your  way  as  it  did  the  other  day  ? 
Don't  talk  in  that  wild  way ;  I  cannot  bear  to  hear 
you." 

18 


206  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  But  you  will  do  what  I  ask  ?"  cried  Margot, 
still  pleading  upon  her  knees. 

"Shall  I  be  doing  right?"  replied  the  older 
woman. 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  swear  to  you,  yes.  Don't  you  think 
I  would  tell  you  if  I  were  free  to  do  so  ?  Don't 
you  think  that  after  keeping  it  all  these  months, 
after  having  to  confide  in  nobody,  to  tell  nobody, 
to  consult  nobody,  to  ask  nobody  to  help  to  bear 
the  burden  with  me,  don't  you  think  that  gladly 
would  I  tell  you  every  detail,  everything?  Oh, 
yes,  a  thousand  times  yes.  But  I  have  given  my 
word  to  one  whom  I  trust  now  and  for  eternity. 
It  may  be  that  I  shall  never  be  free ;  it  may  be  that 
I  shall  have  to  bear  this  burden  to  my  grave;  but 
there  is  a  reason,  there  is  a  good  reason,  and  I  will 
bear  it,  if  need  be,  to  the  very  end." 

"  But,  my  dear  child,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
trying  to  raise  her  from  the  ground,  "  would  it  not 
be  better  to  tell  me  ?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you.  I  have  no  leave  to  tell  you  ; 
nay,  more  than  that,  I  must  beg,  pray,  implore  you 
not  to  find  out  anything,  not  to  ask  me  any  more ; 
but  I  give  you  my  word  of  honour  that  it  is  not 
as  you  think." 

"  That  means  that  you  are  married  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Margot ;  "  it  means  that  I  am  mar- 
ried." 

"  In  church  ?" 

"  Yes,  in  church,  safely  married,  legally  married. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  it.  He  would  rather 
have  died  than  have  played  me  false." 


GOING   HOME.  2O/ 

"  If  you  think  so,  my  child,  why  are  you  bound 
like  this  ?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you.  I  can  tell  you  nothing 
more ;  I  only  ask,  as  the  one  great  favour  that  you 
can  do  me,  that  you  will  not  seek  to  find  when  or 
by  whom  I  was  married." 

"  You  were  married  in  England  ?" 

"  Yes,  in  England.  But  you  won't  find  out ;  you 
won't  try,  will  you  ?  You  will  let  me  keep  my 
bitter  secret  until  the  proper  time  comes  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  will  do  that  for  you.  My  mind  misgives 
me,  Margot.  I  don't  understand  it.  Girls  did  not 
do  these  things  when  I  was  young — at  least,  not 
the  girls  that  I  knew.  I  am  sorry  that  you  mar- 
ried without  your  father's  knowledge  somebody 
who  was  not  bold  enough  and  brave  enough  to 
go  to  your  father  and  honestly  ask  for  you  for  his 
wife." 

"  It  was  not  for  that  reason,"  said  Margot ;  "  it 
was  not,  indeed.  It  was  for  something  quite  differ- 
ent. Some  day  I  shall  be  able  to  explain  every- 
thing, everything  that  now  seems  so  impossible, 
so  dishonourable,  so  unnecessary,  and  then  you 
will  say  that  I  was  not  wrong,  even  if  I  was  not 
right." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "that 
the  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  of  to-day  are  different 
from  what  those  ideas  were  in  my  time.  But,  my 
poor  child,  I  will  not  reproach  you.  I  will  do  what 
you  ask ;  I  will  help  you  to  keep  this  dreadful  se- 
cret. How  shall  we  best  manage  it  ?  Let  me  see : 
we  must  go  home  to-morrow  as  we  originally  in- 


2O8  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

tended,  nothing  can  be  done  there  without  us,  and 
time  presses.  We  must  stay  a  few  days ;  you  must 
keep  as  quiet  and  as  much  out  of  sight  as  you 
can.  There  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  letting 
your  world  know  what  has  happened.  I  will  make 
arrangements  to  leave  home,  and  I  will  take  you 
away.  I  might  take  you  to  Switzerland.  I  don't 
think  people  from  Bladensbrook  often  go  to  Swit- 
zerland. I  never  knew  one." 

"  Oh,  how  good  you  are !"  cried  Margot,  "  how 
good  you  are !  What  should  I  have  done  with- 
out you  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "  You 
would  have  done  very  badly.  It's  no  use  mincing 
matters ;  it's  no  use  trying  to  smooth  things  down 
between  ourselves ;  you  and  I  have  got  a  difficult 
task  in  front  of  us,  a  very  difficult  task,  and  we 
shall  have  to  play  our  cards  very,  very  carefully. 
I  don't  know  that  I  am  altogether  right,  and  yet 
it  cannot  be  wrong  to  hide  the  knowledge  of  such 
a  situation  from  the  world.  It  can  do  no  good  for 
people  to  know  it.  Yes,  we  will  go  to  Switzer- 
land, that  will  be  the  best  place.  We  can  go  to 
some  little  village  up  in  the  mountains  and  keep 
pretty  well  out  of  the  road  of  every  one.  Jim  will 
not  be  able  to  come  out,  and  Jack  will  not  be  back 
until  everything  is  safe.  I  will  get  a  fresh  maid. 
I  will  leave  Perkins  at  home  with  a  special  mission 
to  do  certain  work  for  me.  I  will  have  a  fresh  maid, 
who  will  know  nothing  of  our  circumstances  or 
who  you  are.  If  this  matter  is  to  be  kept  dark  it 
can  only  be  kept  through  your  own  circumspect 


GOING  HOME.  2OQ 

behaviour.  Remember,  you  are  going  home 
among  your  own  people  who  have  not  seen  you 
for  many  months  ;  you  will  have  to  be  very  careful 
in  every  way." 

"  I  will  do  anything,"  said  Margot.  "  I  will  give 
my  very  life  to  make  up  to  you  for  this.  Oh,  how 
good  you  are !  And  to  think  that  I  was  once 
afraid  of  you." 

"  Afraid  of  me !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  in  a 
tone  of  intense  astonishment.  "  But  why  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Margot.  "  Because  you 
were  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  I  think ;  but  until  now  I 
have  always  regarded  you  with  awe,  thought  of 
you  with  nervousness ;  I  have  always  been  a  little 
afraid  of  you." 

"  My  dear  child,  there  was  never  any  woman  of 
whom  you  had  less  need  to  be  afraid  than  I.  How- 
ever, for  the  present,  don't  let  us  speak  of  this 
again.  Let  us  go  home,  get  through  all  our  busi- 
ness, get  rid  of  that  dear  boy,  Jim,  and  make 
our  arrangements  for  leaving  Bladensbrook,  before 
we  speak  on  the  subject  again.  I  don't  intend  to 
watch  you  ;  that  would  betray  you  at  once.  I  only 
urge  you  now  for  the  last  time  to  remember  that  it 
depends  entirely  upon  your  own  demeanour  whether 
the  truth  comes  out  now  or  not.  It  is  time  we  went 
for  our  last  drive  here.  Jim  has  gone  off  by  him- 
self; do  you  and  I  get  ready  and  go  ;  and  remem- 
ber that  we  do  not  speak  upon  the  subject  again 
until  we  are  back  in  London  after  our  visit  home." 

It  seemed  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  during  the  few 
days  that  followed,  as  if  she  must  have  been  some- 
o  18* 


210  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

thing  more  than  blind  not  to  have  seen  the  change 
in  Margot  as  soon  as  she  arrived  in  Pau.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  everybody  who  saw  the  girl 
must  notice  the  terrible  difference  in  her.  She 
looked  with  a  curious  astonishment  at  Jim  and  at 
all  the  people  in  the  hotel  as  they  talked  that 
last  evening,  wondering  how  in  the  world  it  had 
happened  that  there  was  no  suspicion  of  the  truth ; 
then  she  remembered  that  she,  who  had  known 
Margot  from  her  babyhood,  had  noticed  nothing, 
had  only  fancied  her  ill  and  fretting  for  her  father. 
Surely,  if  she  could  be  deceived,  she  who  knew  her 
so  well,  those  who  were  comparative  strangers  to 
her  would  hardly  be  likely  to  notice  anything.  As 
for  Jim,  of  course  it  was  proverbial  that  boys  never 
noticed  their  sisters'  looks,  so  why  should  Jim  any 
more  than  any  other  brother  ? 

At  last  they  had  left  Pau  behind  them  and  were 
well  on  their  journey  towards  home.  It  was  tire- 
some and  tedious,  but  the  worst  journey  comes  to 
an  end  in  time,  and  at  last  they  drove  up  to  the 
great  entrance  and  it  was  over.  The  new  Rector 
was  waiting  to  bid  them  welcome.  He  met  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  with  the  warmth  of  an  intimate  and 
devoted  friend,  shook  hands  with  Jim  with  that 
peculiar  air  of  sympathy  which  men  show  to  one 
another  in  times  of  great  affliction ;  and  then  he 
went  and  took  Margot's  two  little  hands,  holding 
them  in  his  own  and  looking  down  upon  her  with- 
out a  single  word  of  greeting  for  her.  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook's  heart  stood  positively  still  at  the  sight 
of  it,  for  this  was  a  contingency  of  which  she  had 


GOING  HOME.  211 

never  thought,  for  which  she  had  never  in  her  own 
mind  provided.  Of  course,  he  was  in  love  with 
Margot ;  for  Margot's  sake  he  had  remained  on 
doing  curate's  work  in  the  little  country  parish, 
this  brilliant  man  with  his  exceptional  powers  of 
organization,  his  great  gift  of  eloquence,  and  his 
striking  personality ;  it  was  for  Margot's  sake  that 
he  had  accepted  the  living  at  Bladensbrook,  and  it 
was  all  no  good,  all  for  nothing — no  use.  She 
could  not  even  warn  him  by  so  much  as  a  hint 
that  it  was  no  use,  and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  brain 
positively  reeled  at  the  thought  of  the  complica- 
tions which  were  fast  setting  in  upon  her.  Oddly 
enough  a  quotation  came  into  her  mind  in  that 
moment  of  meeting,  "  Oh,  that  a  man  might  know 
the  end  of  this  day's  business  ere  it  comes."  What 
would  be  the  end  of  this  business  ?  She  greatly 
feared  shame  and  tribulation  for  Margot,  pain  and 
humiliation  for  the  new  Rector,  that  is  to  say,  the 
Rector  that  was  to  be. 

"  It  was  kind  of  you  to  come  up  to  welcome  us 
home,"  she  said,  feeling  that  she  must  say  some- 
thing, however  common-place,  however  trivial. 
"  It  is  a  sad  home-coming  for  us  all,  and  we  have 
still  sadder  work  before  us.  You  will  stay  and  dine, 
Mr.  Morris  ?" 

"  I  should  be  most  happy  to  do  so,"  he  replied, 
turning  his  eyes  reluctantly  from  Margot. 

"  That  is  good.  Margot,  the  blue  room,  dear, 
next  to  mine." 

"  Thank  you ;  I  will  go  now  and  take  my  things 
off,"  said  Margot 


212  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

They  had  stayed  a  night  in  London  on  their 
journey  home,  and  Margot  had  bought,  among 
other  things,  a  tea-gown,  all  black,  of  deepest 
mourning  fashion,  which  swathed  her  like  a  cloud 
of  night.  The  new  Rector  positively  jumped  when 
she  came  down  into  the  little  drawing-room  again. 
She  looked  so  like  a  child  swathed  in  those  crape 
folds ;  she  looked  so  young,  so  ill,  so  helpless  ;  he 
longed  to  take  her  bodily  in  his  strong  arms  and 
bid  her  confide  in  him  all  the  grief  and  trouble 
that  he  could  see  was  eating  her  very  heart  out. 
He,  as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  been,  was  quite 
mistaken  in  Margot.  He  believed  that  she  was 
pining  after  her  dead  father,  that  she  was  fretting 
herself  to  a  shadow,  when  in  truth  the  burden  on 
her  mind  was  of  "so  different  a  kind.  "  You  know," 
he  said,  when  he  found  himself  alone  with  her, 
"  that  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  has  offered  me  the  liv- 
ing." 

"  Yes,  I  knew  it,"  said  Margot.  "  I  am  so  glad. 
Daddy  would  have  loved  you  to  have  it.  I  know 
he  would ;  he  was  very  fond  of  you,  Mr.  Morris." 

"  I  believe  he  was,  and  I  of  him.  Would  that 
he  were  still  in  his  old  place.  But  you  may  rest 
assured  that  I  shall  make  no  changes  excepting 
those  that  I  feel  he  would  have  approved." 

"  Father  always  approved  your  changes,"  said 
she. 

"  I  know.  He  was  very  good.  I  have  thought 
of  you  so  often,  so  much,  and  everybody  here  was 
so  full  of  sympathy  for  you.  The  church  was  full 
when  we  had  the  service  in  his  memory,  as  full  as 


GOING  HOME.  21$ 

when  the  bishop  preaches.  Everybody  brought 
flowers,  the  altar  was  hidden  by  them.  I  know  the 
Rector  himself  would  have  loved  to  see  how  much 
affection  was  shown  for  him." 

"  People  are  very  good,"  said  Margot ;  "  and  you 
are  more  than  good,  because  they  knew  Daddy 
years  and  years  and  years  ago,  before  I  was  born, 
but  you  have  only  known  us  a  little  while  " 

Before  he  could  say  anything,  Jim  Dangerfield 
came  in  and  joined  them.  His  entrance,  of  course, 
put  to  flight  anything  that  the  new  Rector  might 
have  had  in  his  mind  to  say.  Later  on  in  the 
evening,  when  Mr.  Morris  had  gone  back  to  the 
Rectory  and  Margot  had  gone  to  bed,  Jim  said 
uneasily  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  I  feel  sure  that 
Margot  is  feeling  this  more  than  she  will  own  to." 

"  Oh,  yes,  my  dear  boy,  the  poor  child  is  hold- 
ing up  wonderfully ;  but  she  is  very  much  broken. 
Don't  take  any  notice  at  all  of  her  manner  or  notice 
her  appearance.  She  is  ill  and  fretting  and  best 
left  to  herself.  I  think  if  she  doesn't  pick  up  within 
a  day  or  two  I  shall  take  her  up  to  town  again 
and  consult  Sir  Fergus  Tiffany.  There  is  nobody 
quite  like  him.  I  have  the  most  implicit  confidence 
in  his  judgment.  I  think  that  I  shall  take  her  to 
Switzerland  for  a  time." 

"  That  would  be  very  kind  of  you.  Poor  little 
girl,  you  see  she  has  always  had  some  one  to  lean 
on  before,  and  to  be  there  alone.  I  have  felt  all 
along  that  Margot  has  borne  more  than  her  share." 

"My  dear  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "you 
may  leave  Margot  implicitly  to  me.  I  will  do  the 


214  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

best  for  her  as  I  would  for  a  girl  of  my  own,  and  I 
always  longed  for  a  daughter — always,  so  you  may 
rest  quite  tranquil  about  Margot.  I  daresay  she 
will  feel  greatly  better  when  we  have  got  through 
the  exceedingly  unpleasant  business  of  deciding 
what  is  to  be  kept  and  what  is  to  be  sold  of  the 
things  at  the  Rectory." 

"  Did  Morris  say  anything  about  it  to-night  ?" 

"  Yes ;  he  says  he  will  take  over  exactly  what  we 
leave ;  so  we  shall  have  no  trouble  beyond  the  mere 
going  through  the  rooms  and  choosing  such  things 
as  will  have  to  be  spared.  The  silver,  you  know, 
is  here  already." 

"  Is  that  so  ?" 

"  Yes.  Each  winter  that  your  father  spent  away 
I  have  had  the  silver  in  my  strong  room,  so  we 
need  not  trouble  to  go  over  that,  as  you  would  not 
be  dividing  that  until  one  of  you  was  married,  or 
at  least  until  Jack  comes  back  again.  Really,  the 
other  things  will  soon  be  settled ;  but,"  she  added, 
"  I  shall  be  glad  when  it  is  all  comfortably  over." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

COMING  AND   GOING. 

DURING  the  next  few  days  there  was  much  com- 
ing and  going  between  the  Rectory  and  the  House. 
The  day  after  their  return  home,  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook  with  Margot  and  Jim  Dangerfield  went  down 


COMING  AND    GOING.  21$ 

soon  after  breakfast  and  spent  some  hours  at  the 
old  home  which  was  now  to  pass  away  from  them. 

"  I  think  we  may  save  all  the  china,  Margot  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  should  like  to  keep  the  china,"  said 
Margot, "  very  much." 

"The  silver,  you  know,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
went  on  to  the  new  Rector,  "  is  all  at  the  House,  so 
that  we  need  not  trouble  about  that.  Then  there 
are  the  pictures ;  what  about  the  pictures,  dear  ?" 

The  brother  and  sister  went  together  round  the 
lower  rooms  picking  out  the  different  pictures  that 
they  particularly  wished  to  have  preserved.  Then 
Margot  reminded  Jim  that  a  certain  cabinet  in  the 
hall  belonged  to  him.  "  You  know  Aunt  George 
left  it  to  you.  Don't  you  remember  ?" 

"  Yes,  of  course.  By  Jove  !  I  had  forgotten  it," 
said  Jim.  "  I  ought  to  stick  to  that,  I  think." 

"  Mark  it  down,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  And  there  is  that  model  of  the  man-of-war  that 
belongs  to  Jack.  I  believe  he  would  be  very  much 
upset  if  we  let  that  go.  And  you  don't  want  it  ?" 
said  Margot,  turning  to  the  new  Rector. 

"  I  am  at  your  disposal,"  said  he. 

"Then  there  are  all  Father's  books,"  Margot 
went  on.  "  I  don't  think  we  want  many  of  the 
books,  Jim.  What  do  you  think  ?  There  were  all 
his  sermons  and  a  great  many  lectures." 

"And  a  great  many  manuscripts,"  said  Mr. 
Morris,  indicating  the  closets  underneath  the  book- 
shelves in  the  Rector's  study. 

"  I  should  like  to  keep  the  manuscripts,"  said 
Margot  "  Father  never  finished  his  book.  I 


2l6  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

wonder  if  they  will  be  of  any  use  to  anybody  ?  It 
was  the  work  of  his  life,  and  he — left  it." 

"Well,  dear,  these  things  are  in  other  hands 
than  ours,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  who  did  not 
want  to  go  into  a  disquisition  on  the  dead  and  gone 
Rector's  life-work  just  at  that  time,  she  being  in 
great  dread  of  the  girl's  nerves  breaking  down. 

"  All  his  sermons.  Wouldn't  you  like  to  have 
them  ?"  said  Margot,  looking  at  the  Rector.  "  I 
don't  mean  to  buy  them.  We  couldn't  sell  Father's 
sermons ;  but  you  might  like  to  have  them.  I 
shouldn't  like  to  see  them  burned." 

"  I  should  be  delighted  to  have  them,  Miss  Dan- 
gerfield,"  said  Mr.  Morris,  very  gravely,  "  Any- 
thing of  your  father's  that  you  like  to  leave  for 
me  I  will  take  care  of  with  the  greatest  pleasure." 

"  Thank  you  so  much,  so  much.  I  want  to  get 
out  of  this  room,"  she  said,  turning  round  to  Jim. 
"  I  cannot  bear  being  here.  There  is  the  chair  and 
the  desk  that  Father  used  to  sit  at.  Dear  Daddy ! 
I — I — cannot  bear  it.  Could  you  not  finish  this 
without  me  ?" 

She  did  not  wait  for  a  reply,  but  turned  and  went 
quickly  out  of  the  room,  across  the  hall  and  into 
the  quaint,  old-fashioned  drawing-room  with  its 
beautiful  Chippendale  furniture  and  wealth  of  old 
china.  "  Mother  loved  old  furniture ;  she  was  so 
fond  of  Chippendale,"  her  sad  thoughts  ran  as  she 
looked  round  the  long,  low  room.  "  Oh,  you  are 
there,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  I  suppose  it  wouldn't 
do  to  take  this  furniture  ?  My  Mother  loved  it." 

"  My  dear,  she  well  might.     It  is  very  beautiful. 


COMING  AND    GOING.  2 1/ 

If  you  would  like  to  have  it,  you  have  only  to  say 
so." 

"  It  seems  rather  hard  to  come  and  take  the  best 
of  everything  away,  doesn't  it  ?" 

"  My  dear  child,  it  is  to  be  sold.  It  would  be 
much  harder  to  make  you  sell  what  you  wish  to 
keep." 

"  Yes,  yes,  that  is  so.  And  that  set  of  miniatures 
on  the  screen,  I  would  not  like  to  part  with  those.' 
Margot  went  on,  looking  round  with  sad  eyes. 
"  And  Mother  worked  the  fire-screen  herself.  I 
remember  her  doing  it  so  well.  And  there's  that 
little  table  with  all  the  bits  of  silver  on  it.  I  think 
we  ought  to  keep  that,  don't  you  ?  I  don't  think 
we  need  think  about  these  chairs  and  tables.  It  is 
only  the  Chippendale  things  that  I  am  really  very 
keen  on  keeping.  I  don't  care  about  the  others. 
What  do  you  say,  Jim  ?" 

Jim,  who  had  just  come  into  the  room,  agreed 
with  Margot.  In  truth,  he  himself  would  have  let 
everything  go, — plate,  pictures,  china,  and  all. 
Boys  are  like  that :  it  is  women  who  cling  to  the 
home ;  it  is  women  who  make  themselves  nests , 
women  who  keep  sentiment  alive.  So  they  went 
through  the  entire  house  until  they  came  at  length 
to  Margot's  own  bedroom.  "  I  don't  want  any- 
thing from  here,"  she  said,  "  excepting  what  Nancy 
knows  about,  nothing  else.  I  want  those  pictures 
and  just  my  own  things.  Nancy  knows,  don't 
you,  Nancy?" 

"  Why,  yes,  Miss  Margot,  of  course  I  do.    I  can 
remember  which   birthday   everything   came   on, 
K  19 


21 8  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

which  was  from  the  dear  master  and  from  the  dear 
mistress,  so  of  course  I  do." 

"  Yes,  Nancy  knows.  I  am  sure  we  needn't  go 
over  all  this.  Good-bye,  little  bedroom,"  she  said 
in  an  undertone,  as  she  passed  out  of  the  long 
corridor. 

"  Miss  Margot,"  said  Nancy,  "  there's  a  letter  for 
you  down-stairs.  It  came  this  morning." 

"  Oh,  is  there  ?     Where  is  it  ?" 

"  I  left  it  in  my  workroom.  I  left  it  there  in- 
tending to  bring  it  up  to  you  myself  at  the  House." 

"  I  will  come,  Nancy."  She  followed  Nancy 
down  the  corridor  towards  her  own  workroom. 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went  the  same  way,  not  intend- 
ing to  follow  the  girl,  but  simply  because  that  was 
the  way  that  led  towards  the  stairs. 

"  Here  it  is,  Miss  Margot,"  said  Nancy,  emerg- 
ing from  her  room  with  the  letter  in  her  hand. 

"  Oh,  thank  you,  Nancy.  Thank  you."  She 
had  caught  sight  in  a  moment  of  the  superscrip- 
tion on  the  envelope,  and  she  saw  that  it  was  in  the 
half-disguised  writing  in  which  Godfrey  had  written 
to  her  once  before.  She  took  it  with  a  shaking 
hand,  her  heart  palpitating,  her  throat  bursting,  and 
every  drop  of  colour  fled  from  her  never  very 
rosy  cheeks. 

"  I  wanted  to  ask  you  a  question,  Miss  Margot," 
said  Nancy,  "  and  now  that  Madam  is  here  it  is  a 
good  opportunity  for  me  to  ask  it.  Do  you  wish 
me  to  stay  with  you?  Mr.  Morris  has  asked  me 
to  remain  just  as  I  have  always  been,  and  I  told  him 
I  should  be  very  pleased,  if  so  be  that  you  didn't 


COMING  AND    GOING.  2 19 

require  me.  If  you  want  me,  there  is  not  another 
situation  in  the  world  I  would  say  thank  you  for." 

Margot  looked  piteously  at  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"  Well,  really,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say,  Nancy. 
You  have  been  so  long  with  Miss  Dangerfield." 

"  Yes,  a  long  time,"  said  Nancy,  closing  her 
mouth  very  tightly. 

"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  Margot,  in  an  under- 
tone, "  let  us  talk  it  over  before  we  decide.  Any- 
how, Nancy  might  come  up  and  see  me  to-morrow 
afternoon — may  she  ?" 

"  My  dear,  when  you  like  to  arrange  for  her 
coming." 

"  To-morrow  afternoon  about  between  four  and 
five,  and  then  we  will  talk  over  what  I  am  going 
to  do.  I  must  discuss  it  all  with  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook first.  You  dear  Nancy !"  she  exclaimed 
impulsively,  suddenly  catching  the  old  servant 
round  the  shoulders  and  kissing  her  on  either 
cheek.  "  There  will  never  be  anybody  like  you  to 
me,  never — never  !" 

The  quick  tears  came  into  Nancy's  hard  eyes, 
and  she  caught  her  nursling  in  a  grip  that  was 
almost  convulsive.  "  My  precious  lamb  !  I  can't 
bear  to  see  you  with  the  shadows  on  your  face  as 
they  are " 

"  No,  Nancy,  no ;  don't  say  the  thing.  Don't 
break  me  down  here.  It  is  so  bad  for  the  new 
Rector.  It  makes  him  feel  that  we  grudge  him  the 
place." 

"  I  think  the  new  Rector  understands,  Miss  Mar- 
got,  exactly  what  you  and  me  is  feeling,"  said  the 


220  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

old  servant,  holding  the  girl's  hand  fast  and  look- 
ing at  her  with  yearning  eyes.  "  I  think  the  new 
Rector  is  more  sorry  for  all  of  us  than  words  can 
say.  He  was  rare  and  put  out  when  the  poor 
master  was  took ;  aye,  I  didn't  think  that  anybody 
who  had  known  him  so  short  a  time  could  have 
felt  it  so  deeply." 

"  Don't,  Nancy,"  said  Margot,  "  please  don't !" 

"  Come,  my  dear,  you  and  Nancy  will  get  over 
this  by  and  by,  at  present  you  upset  each  other. 
It  is  quite  natural,  Nancy.  I  appreciate  your  devo- 
tion to  the  dear  Rector  very  highly,  but  Miss  Mar- 
got  is  not  very  strong  yet ;  she  has  gone  through  a 
great  deal,  and  you  shall  come  up  to-morrow  after- 
noon and  we  will  talk  over  all  the  future." 

"  Thank  you,  Madam,  thank  you,"  said  Nancy, 
dropping  a  curtsey.  She  dabbed  away  a  few 
tears  viciously  and  as  if  she  were  ashamed  of  them, 
then  with  a  hurried  kiss  on  her  nursling's  cheek 
she  turned  and  fled  away  down  the  corridor. 

"  I  knew  Nancy  would  upset  me,"  said  Margot. 

"  No,  my  dear,  she  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind. 
You  must  learn  not  to  be  upset  by  one  so  kind. 
Pull  yourself  together.  Let  us  go  down  and  finish 
what  is  to  be  done." 

"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  I  cannot  do  any  more.  I 
am  utterly  knocked  over  for  to-day.  I  wish  you 
would  take  me  home." 

"  My  dear  child,  of  course  I  will  take  you  home 
if  you  feel  like  that.  You  have  only  to  speak.  I 
will  order  the  carnage  at  once.  My  dear  Mr. 
Morris,"  she  said,  as  they  reached  the  hall  again, 


COMING  AND    GOING.  221 

"  this  child  is  tired  out :  she  is  not  very  strong 
yet.  Now  you  will  let  us  go  to-day  and  come 
back  again  to-morrow  and  finish  everything. 
Shall  we  see  you  up  at  the  House  to-day  ?" 

"  I  think  not  to-day,"  said  he,  half  hesitatingly. 

"  Won't  you  dine  with  us  ?" 

"  You  are  very  kind." 

"  Does  that  mean  yes  ?" 

"  I  hardly  like  to  say  so ;  but  yet — I  don't  like 
saying  no." 

"  Then  it  is  settled  that  you  come,  and  we  will 
expect  you.  Now  come,  Margot,  don't  look  round 
any  more,  dear;  not  even  at  your  own  especial 
things.  Come,  dear,  let  us  go." 

But  even  then  Margot  had  no  chance  of  reading 
her  precious  letter,  not  even  at  taking  a  peep  at  the 
outer  cover  that  she  might  glean  something  of  its 
inward  sweetness.  Still,  all  excitement  and  anxiety 
as  she  was,  hedged  round  in  every  way  as  she  was 
at  that  moment,  she  had  the  glorious  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  Godfrey  was  at  least  alive ;  he  had 
written  to  her  with  his  own  hand,  and  she  felt 
stronger  and  better  able  to  bear  her  fate  than  she 
had  done  for  months  past. 

They  went  straight  into  lunch,  for  they  reached 
the  house  at  the  ordinary  luncheon  hour.  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  sat  some  little  time  at  table  talking 
things  over  with  Jim,  and  every  now  and  again 
drawing  Margot  into  the  conversation,  so  that  she 
had  no  excuse  for  slipping  away  to  read  her  pre- 
cious letter.  Oh,  how  long  it  was  !  She  kept  put- 
ting her  hand  into  her  pocket  and  fingering  it 
19* 


222  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

feeling  it,  as  if  by  so  doing  she  would  extract  some 
information  from  it,  but  from  this  occupation  she 
extracted  nothing  except  a  certain  satisfaction  that 
it  had  come  straight  to  her  from  Godfrey. 

"  I  can't  think,"  Jim  was  saying,  "  where  you  will 
put  all  these  things." 

"  My  dear  boy,  have  you  never  seen  the  up-stairs 
rooms  ?  We  have  some  twenty  rooms  at  the  top 
that  have  nothing  in  them  and  are  never  used.  You 
see,  this  house  is  so  large  and  we  don't  have  large 
house-parties,  so  the  attics  have  never  been  fur- 
nished, and  so  anything  that  is  up  there  will  be 
looked  after  and  taken  care  of.  Pray  put  that  idea 
out  of  your  head.  I  am  only  too  glad  to  do  such 
a  trifle  for  either  of  you." 

"  That  is  awfully  good  of  you,"  said  Jim,  grate- 
fully. "  By  the  bye,  Margot,  do  you  remember  a 
curious  little  picture,  a  sort  of  old  oil-painting  done 
on  a  panel  ?" 

"Do  you  mean  the  strawberry  man?"  asked 
Margot. 

"  Yes,  the  strawberry  man,"  said  Jim. 

"  Oh,  yes,  that  ?  Father  got  it  into  his  head 
that  it  was  a  valuable  picture  and  sent  it  to  be 
cleaned  or  something  in  London.  I  think  we 
shall  find  a  memorandum  of  it  somewhere." 

"  I  don't  remember  such  a  picture,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook. 

"Oh,  yes,  surely  you  must.  You  remember  the 
little  ante-room  between  the  drawing-room  and  the 
dining-room  ?  That  little  place  that  Mother  used 
to  call  the  corner  room  ?" 


COMING  AND   GOING.  22$ 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  it  was  in  that.  Just  by  the  drawing-room 
door,  a  very  curious  old  panel,  a  picture  of  a  man 
with  a  strawberry  mark  on  his  face.  Now,  don't 
you  remember  ?" 

"  My  dear,  so  I  do.  True.  Why,  I  haven't  seen 
it,  I  was  going  to  say,  for  years." 

"  No,  I  don't  suppose  you  have  seen  it  for  years. 
It  is  quite  a  year  since  Father  took  it  into  his  head 
that  it  was  a  valuable  painting.  I  know  he  sent  it  to 
London,  and  I  believe  he  forgot  to  write  about  it." 

"  I  must  look  out  for  some  mention  of  it  when 
I  go  over  the  papers  with  Margot,"  said  Jim. 

"  Yes,  that  would  be  a  good  plan.  You  are 
going  down  to-morrow,  are  you  not  ?" 

"  To-morrow  morning.  We  think  it  is  best  that 
they  should  be  gone  through,  and,  of  course,  he 
wants  the  room.  Besides,  there  are  all  sorts  of 
letters  and  receipts  and  old  bills  and  pamphlets 
and  all  sorts  of  things  that  are  no  use  except  for 
waste  paper,  so  I  am  going  to-morrow  morning  and 
we  will  get  it  turned  out.  You  don't  want  to  go 
down  for  that,  Margot  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  certainly  not.     I  hate  going." 

"  And  I  will  tell  you  what  there  is,  old  girl ;  there 
is  a  splendid  toboggan  in  the  outhouse,  I  think. 
What  about  that  ?" 

"  Is  that  worth  keeping  ?"  asked  Margot. 

"  No,  I  don't  know  that  it  is  worth  keeping." 

"  Well,  then,  my  dear  Jim,  take  it  then.  You 
have  no  objection  to  Jim  taking  that,  have  you, 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ?" 


224  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG   MAN. 

"  My  dear,  I  have  no  objection  to  Jim's  taking 
anything  that  he  wishes  to  have  ;  besides,  it  was 
yours,  wasn't  it,  Jim  ?" 

"  Yes,  it  was  mine  and  Jack's.  Old  Jack  hasn't 
much  use  for  a  toboggan  out  on  the  high  seas  or 
on  a  foreign  station." 

"  Oh,  no  ;  you  have  it,"  said  Margot.  "  And  if 
you  don't  want  me  any  more,  I  would  like  to  go  and 
lie  down.  I  have  got  such  a  headache." 

"  Do,  dear  child,  lie  down  and  go  to  sleep.  I 
won't  come  near  you  till  tea-time,  and  then  I  will 
let  you  know." 

"  Thank  you  so  much."  She  went  from  the  room 
a  little  unsteadily,  opening  and  closing  the  door 
very  softly,  her  fingers  tightly  clasping  the  precious 
letter  from  Godfrey. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

A    PRECIOUS    MISSIVE. 

ONCE  safe  in  the  shelter  of  her  own  room,  Mar- 
got  was  free  to  open  the  letter  from  Godfrey.  She 
noticed  first  of  all  that  the  envelope  was  pink  and 
very  common,  having  a  hideous  embossed  spray  of 
flowers  on  the  flap,  which  opened  so  as  to  allow  the 
letter  to  be  drawn  out  endways.  She  tore  it  open 
with  trembling  fingers  and  drew  out  the  contents, 
not  a  sheet  of  pink  paper  to  match  the  envelope, 
but  a  mere  scrap  of  white  paper  of  a  thicker  kind 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  22$ 

just  doubled  in  two.  On  it  was  written  in  pencil, 
without  any  attempt  at  disguise  in  the  handwrit- 
ing : 

"  MY  OWN  DARLING, — This  is  to  tell  you  that  I  am  yours  still 
and  forever.  I  am  tolerably  well,  and  must  ask  you  to  still  keep  my 
secret — our  secret — as  faithfully  as  you  have  done  up  to  the  present 
time.  I  think  of  you  continually,  and  wonder  if  you  still  trust  me  as 
you  promised  to  do.  I  know  it  is  a  very  hard  test  of  faith,  but  when 
I  am  able  to  tell  you  everything,  you  will  see  that  I  have  acted  in 
the  only  way  that  was  possible  to  me.  I  wish  that  I  could  hear 
from  you,  but  that  is  quite  impossible.  I  would  write  to  my  mother 
if  I  could,  but  cannot  do  so.  She  will  understand  that  I  have  a 
reason,  and  a  good  one.  Dearest,  I  have  lived  on  the  memory  of 
our  few  happy  days  together.  I  exist  until  we  meet  again.  Your 
true  and  devoted  Godfrey." 

She  sat  staring  at  the  letter  for  a  long  time  try- 
ing to  make  out  what  it  could  possibly  mean.  It 
was  inexplicable  to  her  that  Godfrey  should  write 
on  a  soiled  half-sheet  of  note-paper,  using  a  common 
envelope,  such  as  she  was  sure  he  had  never  seen 
in  his  life  before ;  that  he  should  have  any  difficulty 
in  writing,  and  that  the  postmark  was  London,  each 
was  inexplicable.  Where  could  he  be?  Why  was 
he  hiding,  keeping  out  of  sight  in  this  mysterious 
manner  ?  She  had  never  heard  that  any  of  the 
Bladensbrooks  had  been  affected  in  their  minds  ', 
but  it  seemed  to  her  then  as  if  Godfrey  must  have 
taken  leave  of  his  senses;  it  seemed  to  her  as  if  he 
must  have  gone  entirely  wrong  in  his  head.  Could 
he  have  been  taken  with  any  delusion  and  be  hid- 
ing in  some  squalid  part  of  London  out  of  every- 
body's way  for  no  earthly  reason  ?  She  read  the 
letter  again.  The  handwriting  was  firm,  Godfrey's 


226  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

own  handwriting,  although  it  is  true  it  was  in  pen- 
cil ;  then  she  looked  at  the  envelope ;  that  was  in 
pencil,  too,  and  had  been  written  over  with  ink.  It 
was  like  and  yet  unlike  Godfrey's  handwriting. 
She  could  not  make  it  out.  She  read  it  again 
and  yet  again  with  a  sinking  heart  and  a  choking 
throbbing  in  her  throat.  He  was  still  her  "  true 
and  devoted  Godfrey,"  but  her  mind  misgave  her 
whether  he  was  still  the  same  Godfrey  that  she 
had  known  during  her  whole  life.  At  last  she 
locked  the  letter  away  in  her  desk  and  laid  down 
upon  the  couch,  which  was  drawn  up  to  the  fire, 
and  as  she  lay  there  among  the  silken  cushions, 
wondering  and  conjecturing,  puzzling  and  trying 
to  piece  the  fragments  of  the  communication 
together  so  as  to  evolve  some  tangible  whole  out 
of  them,  she  fell  asleep,  and  was  sleeping  when 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  came  to  tell  her  that  tea  was 
ready. 

"  I  am  glad  you  have  been  asleep,  Margot,"  she 
said,  kindly.  "  I  looked  in  to  tell  you,  dear,  that 
tea  will  be  ready  in  five  minutes.  Do  you  feel 
inclined  to  come  down?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  of  course,"  answered  Margot,  "  of 
course  I  will  come  down.  I  have  been  to  sleep  for 
a  long,  long  time." 

"  Do  you  feel  better  ?" 

"  I  feel  less  tired,"  the  girl  replied.  She  washed 
her  hands  and  touched  her  hair  here  and  there 
before  she  descended  to  join  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
and  Jim  in  the  little  drawing-room. 

"  I  cannot  make  you  out,  Margot,"  said  Jim,  sud- 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  22/ 

denly,  as  she  sat  down  not  very  far  from  the  little 
table. 

"  Cannot  make  me  out,  Jim  ?     Why  ?" 

"  I  don't  know.  You  look  so  much  older.  You 
have  got  such  a  queer,  old-womanish  sort  of  way 
about  you.  Why  don't  you  walk  into  the  room  ? 
Why  do  you  creep  like  that  ?" 

Margot  went  scarlet  instantly.  "  I — I — didn't 
know  that  I  did." 

"  Don't  tease  her,  Jim,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  I  had  no  intention  of  teasing  her,"  said  Jim, 
looking  at  her  half  contritely ;  "  but  I  have  been 
accustomed  to  a  Margot  that  was  bright  and  brisk. 
This  Margot  is  neither  bright  nor  brisk." 

"  Margot  has  been  through  a  terrible  time  of 
trouble,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  somewhat  indig- 
nantly. 

"  Yes,  I  know  that.  We  have  all  been  the  same  ; 
but,  although,  goodness  knows,  I  am  as  sorry  that 
my  father  is  dead  as  any  man  can  be,  it  doesn't 
affect  my  way  of  walking  into  a  room." 

"  Ah,  Margot  has  sat  up  too  long ;  she  sat  up 
with  your  father  a  great  deal ;  she  fagged  herself 
out ;  her  spine  is  very  weak,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook, decidedly.  "  After  three  or  four  months  of 
Switzerland,  she  will  be  quite  the  Margot  you  like 
to  see  her  and  whom  you  have  been  accustomed  to 
see." 

"  I  am  sure  I  hope  so,"  said  Jim,  not  in  the  least 
daunted  from  the  position  he  had  taken  up.  "  I 
believe  the  best  thing  you  can  do,  my  dear  child, 
is  to  come  out  on  the  tandem  with  me  and  have  a 


228  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

good  spin  for  ten  or  twelve  miles.  It  would  do 
you  all  the  good  in  the  world ;  you  have  got  humped 
up  and  moped.  Come  out  on  the  tandem  with  me." 

Margot  looked  at  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "  I  don't 
think,"  she  said,  "  that  a  good  spin  on  the  tandem 
will  help  me  at  all  just  now." 

"  Ah,  you  coddle  yourself  too  much.  That's  the 
worst  of  girls.  You  ought  to  get  out  into  the 
open,  into  the  fresh  air ;  walk,  ride,  strengthen  your- 
self up.  I  do  hope  if  you  take  her  to  Switzerland, 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  that  you  will  make  her  walk 
every  day." 

"  I  shall  be  most  strict  with  her,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  not  looking  at  Margot ;  "  she  shall 
do  all  sorts  of  things  when  she  gets  to  Switzerland. 
The  truth  is,  my  dear  Jim,  that  you  don't  under- 
stand, being  only  a  young  man,  how  very  much 
your  dear  father's  death  and  long  illness  have  taken 
it  out  of  Margot's  vitality." 

"  Perhaps  I  don't,"  said  Jim,  in  a  contrite  voice. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  felt  as  if  she  had  been 
guilty  of  telling  a  deliberate  and  down-right  lie,  for 
she  knew  perfectly  well  that  it  was  not  the  Rector's 
illness  and  death  which  had  so  altered  Margot  from 
her  old  self.  It  would  be  hard  to  express  how 
much  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  pondered  over  the  gen- 
eral situation  from  first  to  last.  She  had  never  seen 
the  smallest  signs  of  flirtation  about  Margot ;  she 
had  always  regarded  her  as  a  little  simple,  innocent 
girl  who  might  marry  some  day,  but  hardly  as  one 
who  would  ever  have  a  lover.  There  are  many 
girls  who  marry,  who  make  model  wives  and 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  22$ 

mothers,  who  never  really  live,  who  never  under- 
stand the  greater  ecstasies  of  life,  whose  whole 
existence  is  passed  in  a  kind  of  twilight  so  far  as 
the  greater  passions  are  concerned.  Somehow 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  always  pictured  Margot  in 
her  own  mind  as  being  one  of  these ;  and  yet  here 
was  Margot  in  as  awkward  a  position  as  any  young 
girl  could  find  herself  in.  She  had  taken  her  word 
that  she  really  was  married  ;  she  had  trusted  her, 
and  meant  to  do  so  until  such  time  as  she  could 
speak  ;  but  the  whole  thing  was  inexplicable  to  the 
lady  of  Bladensbrook,  who  had  looked  upon 
Margot  Dangerfield  as  the  very  last  person  in  the 
world  to  inspire  or  to  experience  anything  ap- 
proaching to  a  grand  passion.  Now,  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook had,  during  the  short  time  which  had  passed 
between  her  arrival  at  Pau  and  the  death  of  Mr. 
Dangerfield,  built  up  a  very  nice  little  romance  in 
her  own  mind  of  which  Margot  was  one  of  the 
principal  figures.  She  had  arranged  everything  in 
quite  a  cut  and  dried  fashion  that  she  should  give 
the  living  to  the  curate  in  charge,  that  he  would 
take  over  all  the  furniture,  and  he  would  marry 
Margot.  Nothing  could  be  better,  no  position 
could  be  more  desirable  to  the  girl  than  that  which 
had  been  hers  all  her  life.  She  knew  everybody 
at  Bladensbrook  and  everybody  at  Bladensbrook 
knew  and  liked  her,  she  would  make  an  ideal  little 
Rector's  wife ;  and  the  Rector  to  be  would  make  an 
ideal  husband  for  Margot.  Unfortunately,  Margot 
had  put  this  little  scheme  outside  the  bounds 
of  possibility  forever ;  Margot  had  shown  herself 


230  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

capable  of  planning  out  her  own  life,  not  very  suc- 
cessfully, it  is  true,  so  far,  but  still  sufficiently  so 
to  make  other  people's  plans  of  no  value  whatever. 
The  first  thing  that  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  noticed  on 
her  return  from  Pau  was  that  a  similar  scheme  had 
presented  itself  to  the  mind  of  the  new  Rector. 
She  had  perceived  it  with  a  kind  of  horror ;  she 
felt,  having  had  such  an  idea  herself,  as  if  she  were 
the  cause  of  it ;  she  felt  guilty,  and  she  felt  some- 
thing more  than  guilty  in  possessing  the  knowledge 
of  the  true  state  of  affairs  and  yet  in  not  being  able 
to  warn  Mr.  Morris  that  he  had  better  put  any  such 
idea  out  of  his  mind  without  the  delay  of  a  single 
moment.  That  evening,  for  instance,  she  watched 
him  with  a  sense  of  uneasy  guilt,  and  she  saw  that 
he  was  attracted  to  a  very  dangerous  extent  by  her 
young  ward.  He  waited  upon  her,  watching  her 
every  movement  with  an  assiduity  which  made 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  who  had  only  just  discovered 
the  true  state  of  affairs  for  herself,  wonder  where 
the  man's  eyes  could  possibly  be.  And  Margot, 
in  her  deep  mourning  attire,  out  of  which  her 
slender  young  throat  and  thin  little  hands  seemed 
to  come  like  snow-flakes,  only  served  to  heighten 
his  admiration  and  to  deepen  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's 
extreme  uneasiness. 

"  Margot,"  she  said,  a  little  later,  when  the  Rec- 
tor had  said  good-night  to  them  and  Jim  had  gone 
to  see  him  off,  "  you  must  be  very  careful  what  you 
are  doing." 

"  I  ?"  said  Margot,  looking  up  with  startled  eyes. 
"  Why  ?" 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  2$l 

"  Because  Mr.  Morris  is  not  a  little  attracted." 

"  By  me  ?"  said  Margot. 

"  Yes,  by  you,  Of  course,  it  is  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world  that  he  should  be,  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  that  he  should  be  think- 
ing of  marrying,  and  that  he  should  be  thinking  of 
marrying  you." 

Margot  sat  bolt  upright.  "  I  really  don't  know 
how  he  dare !" 

"  My  dear,  any  man  dare  admire  any  woman. 
He  has  admired  you  for  a  long  time." 

"Oh,  no." 

"  Oh,  yes." 

"  Why,  I  wouldn't  marry  him  if " 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  dryly, 
"  you  couldn't  marry  him  however  much  you  wanted 
to ;  so  it  is  no  use  discussing  that  question  ;  but  as 
you  cannot  tell  the  man  just  now  precisely  why 
you  are  neither  able  nor  willing  to  marry  him,  it 
would  be  the  kindest  to  discourage  him  as  much 
as  you  possibly  could." 

The  result  of  this  was  that  when  the  Rector 
came  up  to  the  House  again  Margot  treated  him 
with  the  most  chilly  and  deadly  indifference.  Only 
a  very  young  woman  could  have  done  it  so  openly 
and  plainly  as  she  did.  At  first  the  new  Rector 
noticed  nothing.  He  sat  down  beside  her  and 
began  admiring  a  bit  of  many-coloured  embroidery 
with  which  she  was  toying.  "  By  the  bye,  Miss 
Dangerfield,"  he  said,  "  Nancy  has  told  me  that 
she  is  perfectly  sure  there  are  some  things  that  you 
have  not  remembered  that  you  would  wish  to 


232  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

keep.  Could  you  not  come  down  to  the  Rectory 
to  see  them  ?" 

"  No,"  said  Margot,  "  I — I — could  not." 

"  Oh,  but  would  it  not  be  better  ?" 

"  No,  not  at  all.  Nancy  knows  very  well  what 
I  am  likely  to  want,  and  if  Nancy  says  I  ought  to 
keep  them,  I  will  keep  them." 

"  But  why  shouldn't  you  come  down  and  see 
them  ?" 

"  Because  I  don't  want  to  come,"  said  Margot, 
bluntly  and  looking  half  indignantly  at  him.  "  It 
is  not  pleasant  to  me  to  go  home  to  the  place  that 
is  no  longer  my  own,  Mr.  Morris.  I  suffered 
dreadfully  the  other  morning.  I  really  could  not 
come  again." 

"  Margot,"  said  he,  dropping  his  voice,  "there  is 
one  way  in  which  you  could  come  with  every 
right." 

"  I  don't  know  that  way,"  said  Margot. 

"  It  is  a  very  simple  one." 

"  It  is  impossible  and  out  of  the  question.  I 
shall  never  come  to  the  Rectory  again.  Please 
don't  suggest  it.  Tell  Nancy  that  what  she  thinks 
I  would  care  to  keep  she  will  do  right  in  sending 
up  here  with  the  other  things."  And  then  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  came  into  the  room  and  the  tete-a- 
tete  was  at  an  end,  not  a  little  to  his  chagrin,  not  a 
little  to  Margot's  satisfaction. 

"  I  suppose  your  brother  goes  back  to  his  regi- 
ment soon  ?"  said  the  Rector,  when  he  had  greeted 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  Yes,  he  goes  back  to-morrow." 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  233 

"  And  you  go  away  ?"  he  asked,  turning  to  the 
lady  of  the  house. 

"  We  go  on  Monday — yes,  Monday.  We  shall 
be  away  some  months .  I  thought  it  better  for  many 
reasons  that  we  should  get  a  long  change  from  the 
painful  associations  that  Bladensbrook  has  for  both 
of  us.  Of  course,  I  shall  be  in  continual  commu- 
nication with  my  people  here,  and  if  anything 
should  require  my  presence  I  can  come  home  at  a 
moment's  notice." 

During  these  few  days  there  were  very  few  vis- 
itors at  Bladensbrook.  For  months  past  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  had  been  living  such  a  retired  life 
and  had  shown  so  little  disposition  to  confide  her 
trouble  to  any  of  her  neighbours,  that  they  had  by 
common  consent  come  to  leave  her  almost  alone. 
She  was  not  a  woman  who  had  inspired  intimate 
friendships,  indeed  such  had  always  bored  her  or 
would  have  done  so  if  she  had  allowed  them  to 
come  about.  Nobody  in  the  neighbourhood  had 
been  as  intimate  with  her  as  Margot's  father,  and 
Margot  had  learned  more  of  her  ways  and  disposi- 
tion during  the  past  few  months  than  she  had  done 
in  all  the  years  of  her  life. 

How  Margot  puzzled  about  that  letter  !  How 
often  she  took  it  out,  read  it,  turned  over  the  en- 
velope, looked  at  the  postmark,  at  the  semi-dis- 
guised handwriting  of  the  address,  at  the  common 
little  embossment  on  the  flap.  But  they  told  her 
nothing,  each  and  all  only  served  to  deepen  the 
mystery  by  which  Godfrey  was  surrounded. 

On  Saturday  evening,  Nancy,  the  old  servant 
20* 


234  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

who  had  been  Margot's  nurse,  left  the  Rectory  and 
took  up  her  abode  at  the  House.  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook  and  Margot  had  thoroughly  discussed  the 
question  of  what  maid  they  should  take  with  them. 
From  the  very  first  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  de- 
clared against  the  idea  of  taking  her  own  maid 
with  them.  "  I  can  leave  her  behind  in  a  position 
of  trust  which  will  thoroughly  satisfy  her  soul," 
she  said  to  Margot.  "  The  only  fault  that  Perkins 
has  is  that  she  talks.  Now  to  me  that  has  never 
mattered,  because  I  have  never  had  any  page  in 
my  life  which  could  not  be  talked  about ;  but  it 
would  matter  to  us  now.  The  question  is  would  it 
be  better  to  have  a  strange  maid  and  keep  her  in  the 
dark,  or  would  it  be  better  to  take  Nancy  into  our 
confidence  and  trust  to  her  holding  her  tongue  ?" 

"  I  think  we  had  better  tell  Nancy,"  said  Margot, 
"  because  she  is  very  reticent.  Father  always  used 
to  say  she  was  as  close  as  wax,  and  she  is  very  fond 
of  me,  anything  that  I  tell  her  will  be  sufficient.  I 
mean  to  say,  she  won't  doubt  my  word,  she  is  much 
too  fond  of  me.  It  would  be  much  more  pleasant 
for  me  if  Nancy  knew,  and  we  might  leave  her  in 
— charge — of — you  know  what  I  mean — after- 
wards" 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  of  course  there 
is  that  to  be  thought  of,  and  Nancy  is  a  very  trust- 
worthy person  in  every  way.  I  almost  think  that 
the  best  thing  to  do  would  be  to  take  a  cottage 
somewhere  on  the  south  coast  and  put  Nancy  there 
with  the  child  and  another  maid.  I  don't  know 
what  else  can  be  done  with  it." 


A   PRECIOUS  MISSIVE.  23$ 

"  I  am  sure  that  Nancy  will  be  the  best,"  said  Mar- 
got  ;  "  but,  oh,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  if  we  were  only 
out  of  this.  You  don't  know  how  I  dread  people. 
I  am  so  frightened  of  Mr.  Morris." 

"  Why,  dear  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  afraid  of  him.  He  suggested  that 
I  should  go  back  to  the  Rectory  yesterday." 

"  What  ?  he  proposed  to  you  ?" 

"  Well,  he  would  have  done  if  I  didn't  put  him 
off;  and  I  am  afraid  I  was  very  rude,  but  I  was  so 
frightened." 

"  My  dear  child,  this  really  is  most  awkward. 
You  know,  Margot,  I  am  afraid  you  will  find  the 
inconvenience  of  the  situation  something  terrible." 

"  I  cannot  help  it,"  said  Margot.  "  It  is  worse 
for  me  than  for  anybody  else,  and  I  do  get  so 
frightened  when — when " 

"  Yes,  I  understand,"  said  the  other,  dryly.  "  I 
quite  understand.  You  must  try  to  make  your- 
self less  attractive,  my  dear  child."  For  somehow 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  come  to  look  upon  Margot 
as  a  very  attractive,  dangerously  attractive,  person 
indeed,  seeing  that  the  Rector  was  evidently  hope- 
lessly in  love  with  her,  and  so  must  have  been  the 
unknown  who  had  won  her  heart. 


236  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

RALPH. 

MRS.  BLADENSBROOK'S  last  instructions  to  her 
steward  were  to  forward  all  letters  immediately  to 
her  latest  address,  to  retelegraph  any  telegrams, 
and  to  give  her  address  to  nobody.  "  I  am  going 
away  for  rest  and  change,"  she  said  to  him,  "  and 
I  don't  want  to  be  joined  by  any  people  I  know ; 
so  if  any  one  asks  you  where  I  am  say  that  I  am 
in  Switzerland  or  in  the  Austrian  Tyrol  or  wherever 
the  district  may  be,  but  don't  give  the  address  ; 
don't  say  what  town  or  village  I  may  be  in.  You 
may  forward  any  letters  to  me,  that  is  quite  suffi- 
cient for  anybody  to  know." 

They  left  Bladensbrook  attended  only  by  Nancy, 
and  if  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  missed  the  attentions  of 
her  own  maid  she  bore  it  cheerfully  and  uncom- 
plainingly for  Margot  Dangerfield's  sake.  She  did 
not  hustle  Margot  straight  off  to  Switzerland;  oh, 
dear,  no.  She  took  her  to  London,  then  to  Paris, 
then  to  Aix-le-Bains,  where  she  herself  took  a 
course  of  the  baths,  and  thence  to  Geneva,  from 
which  they  were  free  to  go  to  any  out-of-the-way 
spot  best  suited  to  their  purpose.  From  the  time 
of  leaving  London,  Margot  had  dropped  her  own 
name  and  had  assumed  that  of  Mrs.  Trevor.  This 
had  been  the  outcome  of  much  cogitation,  of  much 
going  over  pros  and  cons,  whys  and  wherefores 


RALPH.  237 

for  and  against.  "  I  am  quite  convinced,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  that  it  is  best  to  keep  this 
affair  as  dark  as  possible.  You  can  go  to  the 
Consul  and  register  the  child  in  its  proper  name. 
I  ask  no  questions ;  I  have  promised  to  trust  you, 
and  I  will  do  so  to  the  end,  therefore  everything 
will  be  quite  legal  and  straight  and  above-board, 
but  for  ourselves,  I  feel  that  the  best  thing  you 
can  do  is  to  have  as  little  opportunity  of  identify- 
ing Mrs.  Trevor  with  Miss  Dangerfield  as  it  is 
possible  to  have.  For  instance,  if  any  of  the 
people  at  home  hear  of  this  or  get  any  inkling  of 
it,  they  will  make  life  exceedingly  unpleasant  for 
you.  Heaven  knows,  I  don't  like  lending  myself 
to  anything  of  the  kind,  but  your  father  left  you  to 
me,  and  I  must  do  the  best  I  can  for  you.  I  only 
feel  truly  thankful  that  this  affair  all  happened  in 
your  father's  lifetime ;  that  I  am  not  in  any  way 
responsible  for  it." 

So  Margot  began  to  be  known  as  Mrs.  Trevor 
as  soon  as  she  reached  the  other  side  of  the  chan- 
nel, and  Miss  Dangerfield  was  discreetly  dropped. 
It  was  wonderful  how  her  health  and  spirits  im- 
proved when  once  they  had  left  England  behind 
them.  They  were  very  fortunate  in  not  coming 
across  any  of  their  acquaintances.  Once  they  had 
a  very  narrow  shave  of  coming  face  to  face  with 
Margot's  aunt,  Mrs.  Blake.  They  happened  to  be 
in  Lausanne,  when  Nancy  came  bolting  up  into 
their  sitting-room,  "  Oh,  M'm,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
Madam,  what  are  we  to  do  ?  She  is  down-stairs  !" 

"  Who  is   down-stairs  ?"   asked   Mrs.   Bladens- 


238  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

brook,  standing  up  and  looking  very  much  aston- 
ished. 

"  Oh !"  cried  Nancy,  holding  her  hand  to  her 
chest  as  if  to  still  the  tumultuous  beating  of  her 
heart ;  "  oh,  Madam,  you  might  have  knocked  me 
down  with  a  feather !" 

"  Who  is  it,  Nancy  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  Oh,  Madam — don't  flurry  me !  I  have  had 
that  turn  I  scarcely  know  whether  I  am  standing 
on  my  head  or  my  heels  !  Oh,  Miss  Margot — 
Oh,  Madam — she  is  down-stairs !  She  is  in  this 
hotel.  Lucky  you  didn't  write  your  name  in  the 
books." 

"  Who  is  it  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  for  the 
third  time. 

"  Mrs.  Blake !"  said  Nancy. 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  !"  cried  Margot;  "what 
in  the  world  are  we  to  do  ?" 

"  Do,  my  dear  ?  We  must  pay  for  our  rooms 
and  for  our  dinner  and  go.  Nancy,  go  down-stairs 
— stay,  ring  the  bell,  ring  the  bell,  Nancy.  Now  I 
insist  upon  it  that  you  don't  get  flurried,  either  of 
you.  It  merely  requires  a  little  careful  handling 
to  get  out  of  this  quite  easily.  Nancy,  before  the 
waiter  comes  go  down-stairs,  find  out  from  the 
chambermaid  where  Mrs.  Blake  comes  from ;  how 
long  she  is  going  to  stay ;  if  possible,  where  she  is 
going." 

"  Yes,  Madam." 

"  Oh,  Garcon,  I  want  you  to  get  us  our  bill.  I 
am  afraid  we  shall  not  be  able  to  remain.  I  will 
pay  for  our  rooms  and  dinner.  I  know  you  have 


RALPH.  239 

a  great  many  people  coming,  so  that  it  will  make 
no  difference  to  you.  It  will  be  rather  a  conven- 
ience." 

"  As  Madame  chooses,"  said  the  waiter,  politely. 

"  I  feel  that  the  air  of  this  place  does  not  suit 
me.  I  will  pay  for  the  rooms  and  dinner,  and  will 
go  on  by  the  train  leaving  about  four  o'clock.  I 
will  have  a  private  carriage  to  the  station." 

When  Nancy  came  back  again  she  had  discovered 
that  Mrs.  Blake  had  been  staying  for  some  days 
in  the  house;  that  she  was  intending  to  remain 
there  for  some  little  time  longer,  and  was  going 
thence  to  Geneva  on  her  way  home  to  England. 

"  And  she  did  not  see  you  ?" 

"  No,  Madam,  she  didn't  see  me  at  all.  She 
has  gone  out  for  a  drive  and  will  not  be  back  for 
two  hours." 

"  And  from  whom  did  you  get  all  this  informa- 
tion ?" 

"  Oh,  I  got  it  from  her  maid.  Mrs.  Blake's  maid 
is  in  the  servants'  hall,  and  I  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  her  quite  naturally." 

"  But  supposing  she  brings  her  maid  to Oh, 

I  forgot ;  she  won't  come  to  the  Rectory  any  more. 
We  are  not  likely  to  see  her  maid." 

"  I  don't  think  I  am  likely  to  see  her  maid, 
Madam,"  said  Nancy,  "  because  she  is  only  going 
with  her  as  far  as  London  ;  she  doesn't  particularly 
care  for  Mrs.  Blake's  service,  and  she  gladly  talked 
over  her  place  with  me  and  told  me  everything 
that  I  wanted  to  know." 

"  You  think  Mrs.  Blake  did  not  see  you  ?" 


240  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

"I  am  sure  she  did  not,  Madam,"  answered 
Nancy. 

"  Then  we  will  go  by  the  train  that  leaves  at 
four  o'clock.  You  had  better  go  down  to  the 
bureau  and  find  out  exactly  what  time  the  train 
leaves.  We  can  telegraph  from  the  station  to  the 
Grand  Hotel  du  Lac,  and  we  must  trust  to  getting 
rooms ;  but  as  it  is  so  early  in  the  year  we  shall  be 
able  to  do  that." 

In  a  trice  Nancy  was  hard  at  work  packing  up 
the  things  which  she  had  but  just  taken  out  of  their 
boxes,  and  at  the  appointed  time  Nancy,  having 
gone  down  to  see  that  the  coast  was  clear,  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  two  ladies,  who  slipped  into  the  open 
carriage  and  put  up  their  parasols  so  as  to  shade 
their  faces  as  much  as  possible.  They  were  fortu- 
nate in  finding  rooms  reserved  for  them  at  the 
hotel,  and  they  remained  for  a  few  days  at  Vevey 
ere  they  moved  on  into  the  less  frequented  districts. 
Finally,  they  came  to  a  resting-place  in  a  secluded 
valley  within  reach  of  an  English  doctor,  but  quite 
apart  from  the  general  stream  of  tourists  and  holi- 
day makers.  Here  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  secured  a 
suite  of  rooms  in  the  best  of  the  three  modest 
hotels,  and  here  they  were  joined  by  an  English 
nurse  sent  out  from  a  great  institution  in  London. 

"You  will  understand,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
to  her,  "  that  I  am  particularly  anxious  that  you 
should  not  talk  about  me  at  all.  I  shall  make  you 
a  very  handsome  present  on  condition  that  you 
will  never  mention  my  name  to  a  soul.  It  is  better 
to  take  you  into  my  confidence,  because  I  don't 


RALPH.  241 

want  you  to  think  that  we  are  doing  anything  in 
the  least  underhand ;  but  the  young  lady  whose 
confinement  you  are  to  attend  is  my  ward.  She 
is  married;  but  her  marriage  cannot  be  divulged 
at  present,  and  I  am  very  anxious  that  she  should 
not  have  the  unpleasantness  of  this  being  known 
among  her  friends,  so  that  we  shall  keep  the  whole 
affair  out  of  sight  until  it  is  time  for  her  husband 
to  declare  the  marriage.  Do  we  quite  understand 
one  another  ?" 

"  Oh,  certainly,  Madam,  absolutely.  I  have 
attended  similar  cases.  We  nurses  find  it  best  to 
hold  our  tongues.  Of  course,  in  the  case  of  any- 
thing connected  with  the  law  I  should  have  no 
choice." 

"  There  will  be  nothing  connected  with  the  law," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook ;  "  nothing  whatever.  If 
anybody  asks  you  what  you  were  doing  in  Switzer- 
land, you  can  say  quite  frankly  that  you  were  attend- 
ing a  young  English  lady,  a  Mrs.  Trevor.  It  is 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  who  wishes  to  be  kept  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  background." 

"  Very  good,  Madam  ;  I  will  not  say  a  word  to 
anybody.  I  will  not  mention  your  name." 

Naturally,  Margot  had  not  many  letters  to  re- 
ceive ;  only  those  from  her  two  brothers,  which, 
for  the  sake  of  convenience,  went  to  Bladensbrook 
and  were  forwarded  under  cover  with  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook's  correspondence. 

So  in  the  modest  hostel  of  a  small  Swiss  town 
the  little  heir  of  the  Bladensbrooks  was  born  into 
the  world ;  coming  with  no  flourish  of  trumpets 

L          q  2* 


242  A   MAGNIFICENT    YOUNG  MAN. 

and  pomp  and  ceremony,  as  would  have  been  the 
case  had  such  a  birth  taken  place  openly  at  Bla- 
densbrook,  but  ushered  in  by  stealth,  a  nameless 
little  waif  who  had  come  at  an  inconvenient  time, 
and  who  was  really  not  wanted ;  who  was  nothing 
but  a  trouble  and  a  nuisance  to  those  who  would 
have  been  the  most  proud  of  him  had  he  been 
born  in  the  cradle  of  his  race.  However,  in  spite 
of  the  decided  awkwardness  of  becoming  possessed 
of  a  baby,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Margot  was 
exceedingly  happy  in  the  society  of  this  small 
atom  of  pink  humanity.  "  Oh,  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,"  she  cried,- when  she  woke  from  her  first 
sleep  to  find  her  guardian  sitting  by  the  window 
deeply  engrossed  in  some  intricate  game  of  Patience, 
"isn't  he  delicious?  Did  you  ever  see  such  a 
dear  little  thing  ?" 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  got  up,  leaving  her  cards 
with  what  was  almost  a  sigh,  and  came  and  stood 
beside  the  bed,  looking  down  upon  the  downy  head 
snoozling  against  Margot's  bosom.  "  Well,  my 
dear,"  she  said,  "  I  am  very  pleased  that  you  are 
pleased  with  it;  for  my  own  part  I  may  sound 
very  unwomanly  and  very  unfeminine,  but  I  never 
could  see  very  much  in  very  young  infants.  They 
all  seem  to  me  just  alike.  Now,  my  dear,  God- 
frey was  just  such  a  baby  as  that." 

Margot  felt  herself  going  a  painful  and  an  abject 
crimson.  There  was  no  possibility  of  hiding  her 
face,  though  she  did  put  up  one  little  snow-flake 
of  a  hand  to  brush  an  imaginary  something  away 
from  her  forehead.  "  I  think  he  is  a  dear,"  she 


RALPH.  243 

said,  with  an  assumption  of  indignation  which  she 
did  not  in  the  least  feel ;  "  and  you  may  decry  him 
as  much  as  ever  you  like,  but  I  shall  always  think 
so  just  the  same." 

"  Very  right  and  proper,  my  dear  child.  I  have 
no  objection  to  your  thinking  all  the  world  of  the 
little  creature,"  said  the  other  with  kindly  good- 
nature. "  His  coming  is  a  little  inconvenient,  and 
it  is  a  great  pity  we  could  not  arrange  that  he 
should  stay  where  he  was  for  another  year  or  so ; 
but  as  humanity  has  not  yet  been  brought  to  that 
pitch  of  perfection,  we  must  just  make  the  best  of 
it.  It  would  be  dreadful,  indeed,  for  a  child  if  his 
own  mother  had  no  welcome  for  him,"  and  then 
she  gave  another  sigh,  thinking  of  the  welcome  she 
would  give  to  her  child  if  he  should  reappear  at 
ever  so  inopportune  a  moment,  and  then  she  turned 
and  went  back  to  her  game  again  leaving  Margot 
free  to  fuss  over  the  baby  to  her  heart's  content. 

"  By  the  bye,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  some 
three  or  four  days  later,  "  that  child  will  have  to  be 
registered." 

"  What  is  that  ?"  asked  Margot. 

"  Well,  you  have  to  put  a  child  down,  to  register 
it,  to  prove  its  identity,  its  nationality,  its  citizen- 
ship, and  it  will  have  to  be  baptized.  Now,  you 
have  your  reasons  for  not  wishing  to  divulge  the 
name  of  the  father,  but  you  must  divulge  it  to  the 
registrar,  and  you  must  have  the  child  baptized  in 
its  own  name." 

Margot  looked  at  her  guardian  with  scared  eyes. 
"  What  had  I  better  do  ?"  she  asked. 


244  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  don't  want  to  pry  into  your 
secret,  goodness  knows.  I  told  you  in  the  begin- 
ning that  I  would  trust  you  and  try  to  find  out 
nothing.  You  had  better  let  nurse  go  and  register 
the  birth.  She  will  give  you  her  word  to  say  noth- 
ing about  the  name  of  the  father,  and  being  per- 
fectly indifferent  to  your  affairs  it  can  be  but  a 
matter  of  business  to  her.  As  for  the  baptism,  we 
had  better  have  the  child  baptized  here  by  the 
English  clergyman,  and  you  can  give  him  the 
names  and  the  information." 

"  If  you  don't  mind,"  began  Margot. 

"  Mind,  my  dear  ?  I  told  you  in  the  beginning 
that  I  would  trust  you.  I  wish  all  this  necessity 
for  secrecy  had  not  arisen ;  and  even  now  I  cannot 
make  up  my  mind  whether  it  would  not  be  better 
for  you  to  go  back  to  Bladensbrook  as  Mrs.  Trevor. 
The  only  thing  is  it  might  set  curious  people  search- 
ing the  registers  for  your  marriage,  and  that  would 
be  awkward  for  you." 

"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  Margot,  in  an  eager 
and  trembling  voice,  "  I  have  given  my  word  to 
my  husband  that  I  will  not  divulge  our  secret  until 
I  see  him  again.  The  reason  for  this  I  cannot 
imagine.  I  have  no  idea  why  he  asked  me  to 
do  this — at  least,  I  mean,  that  I,  of  course,  know 
why  he  wished  it,  but  I  have  no  idea  why  he  wishes 
it  to  last  so  long.  I  cannot  help  it  if  people  choose 
to  examine  the  registers ;  they  will  find  my  mar- 
riage there  right  enough.  Indeed,  I  do  think  it 
would  be  better  for  me  to  go  back  to  Bladensbrook 
as  Mrs.  Trevor,  because,  if  I  don't  do  that,  if  I  go 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  245 

back  as  Margot  Dangerfield*  I  shall  have  to  leave 
my  baby  behind  me." 

"  Very  well.  Then  we  will  break  the  news  of 
the  marriage  to  everybody  concerned.  They  are 
not  many.  By  the  bye,  what  do  you  mean  to  call 
the  baby  ?" 

"  I  should  like  to  call  him  Ralph,"  said  Margot, 
nervously. 

"  Ralph  ?"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  accents  were  of 
complete  surprise.  "  How  very  strange." 

"  Yes,  I  think  it  would  be  a  charming  name." 

"  I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  call  your  baby 
Ralph,"  said  the  older  woman,  very  softly.  "  My 
husband  was  called  so." 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

AN    UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR. 

BY  the  help  of  the  good  nurse,  the  difficulty  of 
registering  the  birth  and  of  baptizing  the  infant 
were  got  comfortably  and  safely  over.  Before  the 
baby  was  a  month  old,  however,  an  imperative 
summons  came  for  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  to  go  home. 
"  My  dear  Margot,"  she  said,  when  she  had  read 
the  letter,  which  was  practically  one  of  recall, 
"  there  is  no  help  for  it.  I  must  go  to  Bladensbrook 
at  once." 

"  But  why  ?" 

"  There  is  something  wrong  with  those  cottages 


246  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

just  beyond  the  stables.  They  have  got  typhoid 
among  them,  and  very  badly,  too.  The  drainage 
seems  to  be  all  wrong,  the  drinking  water  seems  to 
be  wrong,  the  wells  are  poisoned.  I  must  go  at 
once.  The  question  is  what  in  the  world  I  am  to 
do  with  you  ?  I  cannot  take  you  back  there.  In 
the  first  place,  you  could  not  take  such  a  long  jour- 
ney ;  and  in  the  second  place,  it  is  impossible  for 
you  or  the  child  to  go  into  any  infected  districts ; 
and,  in  Godfrey's  interests,  it  is  necessary  that  I 
should  be  on  the  spot  for  a  time  to  see  that  every- 
thing is  done  as  if  he  were  at  home  or  as  if  I  were 
still  in  full  power.  The  best  thing  I  can  do  is  to 
leave  you  here  with  nurse  and  Nancy.  I  can  say 
that  I  was  afraid  of  your  going  into  infection,  and 
that  I  have  left  you  with  Nancy.  Nancy,  of  course, 
is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  safety  and  respectability 
for  any  enquirer." 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed,  I  do  think  that  would  be  the 
best,"  said  Margot 

"  Not  only  that.  I  have  been  thinking,  Margot, 
if  we  divulge  this  marriage — I  mean  to  say  if  we 
divulge  the  fact  that  you  are  married  and  that  you 
have  got  a  baby — it  will  set  your  Aunt  Marcia  fer- 
reting out  things.  I  am  sure  it  will  be  best  to  say 
nothing  until  we  are  driven  to  it." 

So  they  arranged  it,  and  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  went 
off  to  England  by  herself,  leaving  the  strictest  in- 
junctions with  Nancy  and  the  nurse  to  take  the 
utmost  care  of  Mrs.  Trevor  until  her  return.  When, 
however,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  set  foot  once  more 
upon  her  own  threshold,  she  found  that  her  troubles 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  247 

had  begun  in  real  earnest.  She  was  greeted  with 
the  news  that  the  typhoid  had  developed  into  a  very 
dangerous  form  of  typhus  ;  that,  in  spite  of  the  care 
and  attention  she  had  given  during  the  whole  of 
her  regency  to  the  improvement  of  the  estate,  many 
cottages  were  condemned  as  being  absolutely  un- 
sanitary, and  a  great  deal  of  money  would  have  to 
be  spent  in  satisfying  the  requirements  of  the  au- 
thorities in  that  respect.  "  My  dear  Sir,"  she  said 
to  the  officer  who  first  broke  the  news  to  her  that 
the  village  of  Bladensbrook  was  in  a  very  bad  con- 
dition, "  in  my  son's  absence  I  am  perfectly  willing 
to  do  anything  in  the  world  to  prevent  the  recur- 
rence of  such  an  epidemic.  You  know  you  can  see 
for  yourself  that  our  people  are  well  cared  for ;  we 
have  practically  no  workhouse  in  Bladensbrook,  at 
least  we  do  not  contribute  anything  like  our  share 
to  the  workhouse  of  the  district.  Our  people  are 
satisfied,  as  they  have  been  for  generations — as  I 
hope  they  will  be  for  generations  to  come ;  this 
terrible  epidemic  is  a  visitation.  I  can  regard  it  as 
nothing  else.  Why  it  should  have  come  is  beyond 
me.  Every  one  of  those  cottages  was  officially  in- 
spected less  than  two  years  ago,  and  they  were 
declared  then  by  your  predecessor,  or,  perhaps,  by 
one  of  his  assistants,  to  be  in  perfect  condition.  We 
have  not  a  roof  that  has  a  tile  wrong,  unless  it  has 
got  wrong  since  I  went  abroad ;  we  have  not  a 
hedge  that  is  broken ;  the  entire  estate  is  in  the 
most  perfect  order.  Can  you  explain  the  cause  of 
this  epidemic  ?" 

"  Yes,  the  cause  is  perfectly  easy  to  explain,  per- 


248  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

fectly  simple.  The  drainage  which  goes  down  the 
main  street  of  the  village  is  absolutely  wrongly 
planned ;  the  entire  village  will  have  to  be  re- 
drained.  It  will  cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  I  am 
sorry,  but  it  will  cost  a  very  great  deal  of  money." 

"  Never  mind  what  it  costs  ;  but  how  am  I  to 
know  that  new  drainage  will  be  efficacious  ?  Your 
predecessor  was  an  excellent  man  of  business,  a  man 
of  most  enlightened  ideas,  great  sympathy  with  the 
poor ;  and  I  always  regarded  him  as  an  exceedingly 
intelligent  person.  The  present  drainage  is  en- 
tirely arranged  on  his  plan  ;  his  ideas  have  been 
carried  out  to  the  last  detail.  Now,  what  guarantee 
have  I  that  if  I  carry  out  your  ideas  I  shall  be 
any  better  off  than  I  am  now  ?" 

"  Well,"  said  he,  smiling  and  shrugging  his 
shoulders,  "  I  can  give  you  no  guarantee,  none 
whatever.  I  can  only  tell  you  what  I  believe  would 
be  the  safest  plan  of  drainage  for  this  village.  My 
predecessor  did  the  same  thing.  He  knew  the  vil- 
lage and  the  ground  in  the  neighbourhood  better 
than  I  do,  because  he  had  been  here  for  twenty 
years,  and  his  plan  has  proved  to  be  wrong.  If  I 
were  you,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  as  money  is  not  an 
object  with  you,  I  would  have  a  big  man  down 
from  town  and  go  over  the  ground  with  him,  so 
as  to  get  him  to  give  you  his  reasons  for  everything 
that  he  suggests.  It  would  be  a  little  dearer  in 
the  beginning,  but  such  a  plan  would  pay  you  in 
the  end." 

"  That  is  a  good  idea.  Now,  who  would  you 
advise  me  to  consult  ?" 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  249 

"  Well,  the  most  practical  authority  on  drainage 
that  I  know  is  Sir  Herbert  Silver — excellent,  all- 
round,  safe  man,  not  brilliant,  no  fireworks,  but  a 
simple,  practical,  and  thoroughly  understandable 
authority.  He  has  won  his  honours  by  sheer  dom- 
inant hard  work  and  common  sense.  He  will 
charge  you  a  hundred  guineas,  but  you  will  get 
the  best  advice  that  you  can  get  in  the  world." 

"  I  will  send  for  him  at  once,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook. 

A  few  days  later  the  great  authority  on  drainage 
came  down  to  Bladensbrook.  He  was  entertained 
by  the  mistress  of  the  house,  and  as  they  sat  at 
dinner  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival  she  explained 
to  him  thoroughly  what  had  happened  in  the  past, 
what  she  was  prepared  to  do  in  the  future.  "  You 
will  quite  understand,  Sir  Herbert,"  she  said,  "  that 
I  have  no  wish  to  throw  away  my  son's  money.  I 
don't  want  to  spend  money  on  useless  ornamenta- 
tion or  on  fads,  but  the  drainage  is  absolutely  wrong, 
and  it  must  be  altered.  I  want  to  have  the  best 
that  you  can  suggest  to  us ;  I  want  it  to  be  good 
and  lasting ;  I  want  my  son's  people  to  be  well,  to 
live  in  peace  and  without  fear  of  this  terrible  scourge 
returning  upon  them.  To-morrow  morning  I  will 
take  you  all  over  the  village,  and  the  district-sur- 
veyor will  meet  you.  You  can  give  him  the  benefit 
of  your  opinions ;  it  was  he  who  suggested  that  I 
should  consult  you." 

"  I  shall  be  very  pleased  to  meet  him,"  said  Sir 
Herbert.  "  I  fancy  your  last  man,  Vincent,  was  a 
bit  of  a  dreamer.  I  had  to  overhaul  some  work 


250  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

of  his  not  many  months  ago  about  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  from  here — at  Colbrook." 

"  Oh,  yes,  of  course.  So  you  were  consulted 
then?" 

"  Yes.  His  idea  was  good,  you  know ;  it  was  very 
good,  it  was  scholarly,  it  was  beautifully  worked 
out.  I  assure  you  the  plans  we  have  were  worth 
framing,  but  they  were  not  practical.  Now,  in 
drainage,  you  first  of  all  want  to  be  practical.  One 
man  can  draw  you  a  plan  with  a  bit  of  blue  pencil 
on  the  back  of  an  old  envelope  that  will  work  bet- 
ter for  a  generation  than  the  plans  of  another  man 
that  have  taken  weeks  to  bring  to  perfection 
That  is  the  kind  of  work  that  Vincent  turned  oul 
— wonderful  details,  nicely  rounded  little  edges  to 
everything,  bits  of  trimming  here  and  there,  all 
very  nice  and  dainty,  but  very  provocative  of  typhus 
and  such-like  things.  I  wonder  you  have  got 
along  as  well  as  you  have  done.  From  a  letter  I 
had  from  Mr.  Hardy,  I  gather  that  all  your  places 
were  overhauled  two  years  ago.  I  suppose  you 
spent  a  good  bit  then  ?" 

"  Oh,  a  great  deal,  a  great  deal.  The  village  was 
not  redrained,  not  as  far  as  the  main  was  con- 
cerned, but  every  cottage  was  separately  attended 
to." 

"  Ah,  that  is  just  it ;  that  accounts  for  it.  If  the 
cottages  had  been  let  alone  and  left  on  the  old 
system — which  must  be  about  twenty  years  old — 
they  would  probably  have  worked  right  enough. 
Vincent  went  and  ordered  new-fangled  house  ar- 
rangements to  be  joined  on  to  old-fashioned  main 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  2$ I 

arrangements.  The  best  thing  that  you  can  do  is 
to  root  the  whole  affair  up  and  put  in  a  new  system 
from  beginning  to  end." 

"  That  was  exactly  what  Mr.  Hardy  suggested." 
"  Hardy  ?  Ah,  he  is  a  sensible  man,  a  good 
practical  man.  I  have  had  my  eye  on  him  for 
some  time,  a  very  practical  man.  However,  I  can 
tell  you  more  definitely  in  the  morning  in  five 
minutes  than  I  can  if  I  talk  the  whole  of  to- 
night," with  which  hint  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  changed 
the  subject. 

It  was  well  for  the  people  of  Bladensbrook  that 
"  Madam"  had  been  in  the  habit  of  ruling  the 
affairs  of  the  estate  with  a  high  hand.  Like  all 
country  people  they  were  bitterly  suspicious  of  any 
manner  of  innovation,  and  the  presence  of  typhus 
notwithstanding,  they  were  intensely  resentful  of 
the  presence  of  the  district-surveyor  and  of  the 
strange  gentleman  from  London.  It  was  bad 
enough  to  have  "  Madam"  herself  poking  in  and 
out  of  their  houses,  consulting  with  the  doctor  and 
talking  over  their  cases,  but  to  have  "  Madam" 
peering  into  their  wells,  sniffing  at  their  drainage 
arrangements,  and  discussing  what  they  considered 
their  most  private  affairs  with  a  person  whom  they 
had  never  seen  before,  was  almost  beyond  the 
bounds  of  human  endurance.  "  Madam"  herself, 
however,  was  quite  unconscious  of  this.  She  went 
to  and  fro,  walked  here  and  there,  sniffed  and  poked 
and  pried — at  least,  that  was  the  way  that  the  villa- 
gers put  it  among  themselves.  To  "  Madam"  her- 
self it  was  but  the  most  ordinary  kind  of  inspection 


252  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

that  she  conceived  to  be  her  duty  to  her  son's 
tenantry. 

These  inspections  and  consultations  resulted  in 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  remaining  among  her  people 
for  several  weeks.  Every  few  days  she  heard  from 
Margot,  giving  her  rapturous  accounts  of  the  in- 
creasing beauty  and  vitality  of  her  wonderful  baby. 
"  He  grows  more  lovely  every  day,"  Margot  wrote. 
"  I  know  even  you  will  say,  when  you  come  back 
again,  that  he  is  not  at  all  like  other  babies,  that  he 
is  anything  but  an  atom,  being  an  immensely  large, 
strong,  fine  boy.  He  laughs  at  us  now  and  crows 
and  gurgles  and  chuckles  like  a  parrot." 

"  I  suppose  that  means,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
to  herself,  "  that  the  child  is  afflicted  with  the  wind. 
That  was  what  they  always  told  me  when  Godfrey 
was  a  baby  and  crowed  and  smiled  at  the  angels 
and  such-like."  She  therefore  wrote  back  to  Mar- 
got,  "  Try  peppermint,"  a  proposition  which  set 
Margot,  Nancy,  and  the  nurse  fairly  chattering  in 
their  wrath  and  indignation. 

And  during  the  whole  of  this  time  not  one  word 
of  news  came  about  Godfrey.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
was  pining  at  home  and  Margot  was  semi-pining  at 
Grigon,  but  no  word  or  line  came  from  Godfrey. 
During  almost  every  day  the  Rector  came  up  and 
he  was  very  eager  for  news  of  Margot.  He  sup- 
pressed his  natural  inclination  and  asked  after  her 
in  a  very  steady  and  almost  indifferent  voice.  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  saw  through  the  pretence,  however, 
and  tried  her  utmost  to  let  him  know,  without  put- 
ting it  too  plainly,  that  Margot  was  not  for  him,  but 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  253 

the  Rector  either  could  not  or  would  not  perceive 
her  meaning.  He  taught  her  several  new  games 
of  Patience,  and  discussed  the  drainage  question 
from  every  conceivable  point  of  view  excepting  that 
of  the  villagers,  and  every  now  and  again  he  would 
bring  the  conversation  back  to  the  old  Rector 
or  the  Rectory  and  then  to  Margot,  and  gently 
hinted  his  desire  for  information  concerning  her. 
"  Why  did  you  not  bring  Miss  Dangerfield  back 
with  you  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  thought  it  was  most  dangerous  her 
coming  into  a  place  where  there  was  a  chance  of 
her  getting  infection,"  she  answered,  promptly. 

"  There  is  no  danger  at  the  House." 

"  No,  perhaps  not ;  but  Margot  has  not  been  very 
well.  She  felt  her  father's  death  a  greal  deal,  and 
she  is  not  as  strong  as  I  could  wish.  I  thought 
she  was  much  better  left  at  Grigon  with  Nancy. 
The  climate  suits  her  to  perfection ;  she  is  much 
better  since  she  went  there ;  but,  still,  I  was  afraid  to 
venture  on  her  coming  home." 

At  last  the  Rector,  with  a  certain  accession  of 
colour  in  his  face,  blurted  out  something  of  the 
truth.  "  Well,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  he  said,  "  I 
don't  mind  frankly  owning  up  that  I  am  fearfully 
disappointed.  When  I  heard  that  you  were  com- 
ing home,  and  your  people  told  me  that  they  had 
sent  for  you — or  practically  sent  for  you — I  thought 
of  course  that  Margot  was  coming  home  with  you, 
and  I  counted  very  much  on  seeing  her.  The  fact 
is,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  I  am  getting  tired  of  living 
alone  at  the  Rectory." 


254  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  You  are  thinking  of  marrying  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook,  in  a  distant  sort  of  voice. 

"  I  am  very  anxious  to  marry." 

"  You  want  to  marry  Margot  ?" 

"  I  should  like  to  marry  Margot." 

"  My  dear  Rector,"  said  she,  very  quietly, "  when 
I  offered  you  the  living,  I  confess  to  you  that  I 
thought  you  were  attracted  by  Margot,  and  I 
thought  it  would  be  a  delightful  arrangement  if 
you  two  were  to  make  a  match  of  it ;  but,  since 
then,  circumstances  have  arisen  which  have  led  me 
to  believe  that  no  such  arrangement  will  ever  come 
to  pass." 

"  But  why  not  ?" 

"  Because  Margot  is  not  at  all  fit  to  be  your 
wife — no,  don't  misunderstand  me,  I  don't  mean  in 
that  sense  at  all — but  Margot  is — is — well,  there  is 
somebody  else." 

"  Margot  is  engaged  ?" 

"  No,  I  don't  say  that.  I  cannot  tell  you  as 
much  as  I  know,  but  Margot  has  other  views. 
She  will  never  be  your  wife,  Mr.  Morris." 

"  You  are  sure  ?" 

"  I  am  quite  sure  of  it,  and  when  I  tell  you  that 
this  has  been  one  of  my  dearest  wishes,  you  will 
understand  that  I  do  not  speak  so  definitely  without 
having  a  definite  reason." 

"  And  he  is  at  Grigon  ?"  said  he. 

"  No,  she  is  there  with  Nancy.  I  have  not  seen 
him,  but  at  the  same  time  Margot  will  never  marry 
you.  I  do  hope  that  you  won't  take  it  very  much 
to  heart,"  she  went  on ;  "  of  course  you  cannot  be 


AN  UNLOOKED-FOR   VISITOR.  2$$ 

very,  very  much  in  love  with  Margot,  very  much 
attracted,  I  know,  very  fond  of  her  I  know,  too,  but 
you  will  look  out  for  somebody  else.  I  am  sorry 
about  it,  very  sorry,  but  believe  me  it  is  quite  out 
of  the  question." 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  said  the  Rector, 
"  pray  don't  say  anything  more  about  it.  Margot 
cares  for  another,  and  that  is  sufficient.  I  don't  say 
that  I  srtell  not  marry  somebody  else,  because  I 
have  always  felt  that  man  was  not  made  to  live 
alone,  and  Bladensbrook  is  not  the  most  lively 
place  in  the  world,  especially  when  you  are 
away  from  it.  I  thank  you  so  very  much  for 
your  frankness  and  your  kindness  to  me  in  every 
way." 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  sat  for  some  time  after  he 
had  left  her  wondering  whether  Margot  had,  in 
taking  this  mysterious  husband  of  hers,  done  as 
well  for  her  life's  happiness  as  if  she  had  taken  the 
steady,  solid,  good  Rector.  "  How  strange  it  is," 
her  thoughts  ran,  "that  these  young  creatures 
show  so  little  discrimination  in  choosing  their 
lovers.  One  would  think  that  a  man  so  eminently 
attractive,  so  brilliant  in  conversation,  so  full  of 
wit  and  good  humour  and  sound  common  sense, 
with  his  exceptional  qualities  as  a  preacher,  his 
splendid  gifts  of  organization,  his  family,  his  pres- 
ent position,  that  he  would  have  been  the  beau 
ideal  of  a  young  girl's  love ;  but,  no,  she  gives  her 
whole  life  away  into  the  keeping  of  some  fellow 
who  skulks  out  of  sight.  It  is  very  curious.  Wei!, 
what  is  it,  Matthew  ?" 


256  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Mrs.  Blake  is  in  the  drawing-room,  M'm." 
"  What  Mrs.  Blake  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"  Mrs.  Blake,  M'm  ;  Mr.  Dangerfield's  sister." 
"  Mrs.  Blake  !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  in  intense 
astonishment. 
"  In  the  drawing-room,  M'm,"  said  Matthew. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

ASTOUNDING    NEWS. 

MRS.  BLADENSBROOK  went  at  once  to  her  visitor 
in  the  drawing-room.  "  I  had  no  idea  that  you 
were  in  the  neighbourhood,"  she  said,  as  she  held 
out  her  hand. 

"  I  came  into  the  neighbourhood  especially  to 
see  you,"  replied  Mrs.  Blake,  in  a  portentous  tone. 

"  Yes  ?  I  am  very  pleased  to  see  you,  of  course," 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  replied.  It  was  not  quite  true, 
but  it  was  as  true  as  many  of  the  every-day  amen- 
ities of  society  usually  are. 

"  I  don't  know  that  you  will  be  so  pleased  to  see 
me  when  you  have  heard  why  I  have  come,"  said 
Mrs.  Blake,  in  very  dignified  accents. 

"  My  dear  lady,  that  sounds  like  a  revelation  of 
some  kind." 

"  I  have  a  revelation  to  make  to  you." 

"  You  don't  say  so  ?  Stay,  you  had  better  come 
into  my  own  sitting-room,  had  you  not  ?  We  shall 
be  undisturbed  there  by  any  other  visitors."  She 


ASTOUNDING   NEWS.  2$? 

turned  and  led  the  way  back  to  her  own  favourite 
room,  and,  having  pointed  out  a  comfortable  chair 
to  her  visitor,  sat  down  near  to  her  and  waited  in 
an  attitude  of  expectancy  for  the  news  which  Mrs. 
Blake  had  to  tell. 

"  First,"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  "  I  want  to  ask  you 
where  is  Margot,  my  niece  ?" 

"  Your  niece,  Margot,  is  at  Grigon  in  Switzer- 
land." 

"  Why  did  you  not  bring  her  over  here  ?" 

"  Because  I  thought  she  was  better  away.  She 
is  waited  on  by  Nancy,  whom  you  must  have 
known  for  many  years,  and  of  whom  your  brother, 
the  Rector,  had  the  very  highest  opinion.  I  knew 
my  duty  to  my  ward  better  than  to  expose  her  to 
the  risk  of  contracting  typhus  fever  in  this  village." 

"  And  that  was  really  the  reason  why  you  did 
not  bring  Margot  home  with  you  ?" 

"That  was  my  principal  reason,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  putting  her  head  back  against  the 
high  chair  and  looking  at  her  visitor  through  half- 
closed  eyes. 

"  Oh,  has  anything  unusual  happened  to  Margot, 
really  unusual  ?" 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  Has  it  occurred  to  you  that  Margot  is  a  differ- 
ent girl  from  what  she  was  ?" 

"  Yes,  very  different,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"  She  has  felt  her  father's  death  most  deeply." 

"  I  do  not  mean  anything  connected  with  her 
father's  death,"  said  Mrs.  Blake ;  "  that  is  as  may 
be ;  I  was  not  there.  As  you  are  aware,  neither  my 


258  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG   MAN. 

brother  nor  his  daughter  thought  me  of  sufficient 
importance  to  send  for  me,  although  I  would  gladly 
have  joined  them." 

"  That  was  not  their  reason  at  all,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  in  accents  which  she  tried  to  make 
smooth  and  conciliatory.  "  I  went  over  to  Pau 
because  I  was  in  great  anxiety,  as  I  am  still,  and  1 
wanted  a  little  change.  I  saw  the  Rector  was  worse 
when  I  got  there,  and  the  end  was  very  rapid. 
You  must  not  indeed  think  that  there  was  any 
desire  to  slight  you  on  either  side.  My  being  there 
was  more  or  less  of  an  accident.  Margot,  poor 
child,  took  her  father's  death  very  much  to  heart ; 
she  has  never  been  quite  the  same  since.  That 
was  one  reason  why  I  took  her  to  Switzerland." 

"  I  see.  Well,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  I  am  going 
to  put  a  very  "plain  question  to  you." 

"  And  I,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "will  give  you 
a  plain  answer  if  it  is  in  my  power  to  do  so." 

"  Had  you  any  idea  that  Margot  was  married  ?" 

For  a  moment  there  was  dead  silence  between 
the  two  ladies.  Then  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  opened 
her  eyes  and  looked  at  her  visitor.  "  I  knew  that 
Margot  was  married,"  she  said. 

"Indeed!  And  you  felt  justified  in  keeping 
that  knowledge  from  me  ?" 

"  I  did." 

"  May  I  ask  why  ?" 

"  Because  I  am  Margot's  sole  guardian,  and  I  did 
not  see  the  necessity  of  informing  any  one  for  the 
present." 

"  But  why  ?" 


ASTOUNDING  NEWS.  2$$ 

"  Because  Margot  did  not  wish  the  fact  of  her 
marriage  to  be  divulged  just  yet." 

"  And  may  I  ask  why  ?" 

"  That,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  is  more  than 
I  can  tell  you.  Margot  was  married  some  time  last 
year." 

"  You  don't  know  when  ?" 

"  No ;  Margot  has  not  told  me.  She  has  told  me 
that  she  is  married.  She  assures  me  that  it  is  really 
so ;  that  her  marriage  was  quite  straight  and  proper. 
She  promised  her  husband  not  to  divulge  the  mar- 
riage to  anybody  for  a  certain  time.  She  asked  me 
to  trust  her,  and  I  have  trusted  her  to  the  extent 
of  not  trying  to  find  out  anything  about  it." 

"  And  you  don't  know  to  whom  she  was  mar- 
ried ?" 

"  No,  Mrs.  Blake ;  I  have  not  the  smallest  idea." 

Mrs.  Blake  drew  a  long  breath.  "  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook," she  said  at  last,  "  what  I  have  to  say  to 
you  will  astonish  you  greatly  unless  I  am  very 
much  mistaken.  I  happen  to  have  found  out  by 
the  merest  accident  when,  where,  and  to  whom  my 
niece,  Margot,  was  married.  She  was  married  last 
August,  nearly  a  year  ago,  at  a  church  in  Brixham, 
to  your  son,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook." 

"  What  ?  Margot  is  married  to  Godfrey  ?  To 
Godfrey,  my  son  ?" 

"  To  Godfrey,  your  son.  I  have  brought  you 
a  copy  of  the  marriage  certificate.  There  is  no 
doubt  about  it  whatever." 

"  And  the  date  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"Was  the  i6th  of  August  of  last  year." 


260  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  God  Almighty  !"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ejaculated, 
while  through  her  bewildered  brain  there  rang  a 
rapid  calculation  that  the  marriage  had  taken  place 
four  days  before  Godfrey's  disappearance.  For 
some  little  time  she  did  not  speak,  her  mind  was 
travelling  back  over  the  past  few  months,  and  a 
thousand  things  were  made  clear  which  had  been 
mysterious  so  far — little  signs  and  tokens,  tricks 
of  manner,  glances,  inflexions  of  her  voice,  trifles 
which  told  her  that  she  ought  to  have  known  from 
the  very  beginning  who  was  the  husband  so  mys- 
teriously kept  in  the  background,  who  was  the 
father  of  Margot's  child,  why  she  had  wished  that 
child  to  be  called  Ralph. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  in  a  dangerously 
polite  voice,  "  that  this  has  been  a  great  blow  to 
you,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  Possibly  Margot  is  not 
the  wife  you  would  have  chosen  for  your  son." 

"  My  dear  lady,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  with 
decision,  "  I  should  never  at  any  time  have  dreamt 
of  interfering  with  my  son's  choice.  I  am  exceed- 
ingly fond  of  Margot,  and  she  is  quite  the  wife  I 
would  have  chosen  for  Godfrey,  provided  always 
that  Godfrey's  choice  lay  in  that  direction.  My  son 
was  quite  old  enough  and  quite  sensible  enough  to 
choose  his  wife  without  consultation  with  me.  I 
admit  to  you  that  you  have  surprised  me  very 
much.  I  don't  understand  why  this  marriage  was 
made  in  secret,  or  why  it  was  kept  a  secret ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  neither  do  I  understand  why  my 
son  Godfrey  has  been  invisible  for  nearly  twelve 
months.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  Margot  did 


ASTOUNDING  NEWS.  26 1 

not  tell  me  to  whom  she  was  married.  She  had 
promised  him  that,  until  he  gave  her  leave,  she 
would  not  divulge  the  marriage,  and,  therefore,  she 
was  perfectly  right  to  keep  her  word  to  him.  It  is 
quite  what  I  should  have  expected  of  Margot.  I 
feel  more  glad  now  that  I  trusted  her  implicitly 
from  the  first.  Being  her  guardian,  I  might  have 
made  her  life  very  much  more  unhappy  and  anx- 
ious than  it  is.  It  is  easy  now  to  understand  a 
great  deal  that  has  puzzled  me  very  much  in  the 
immediate  past.  By  the  bye,  how  did  you  find  out 
about  the  marriage  ?" 

"  I  discovered  it,"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  "  by  the 
merest  accident.  You  will  remember  that  last  year 
— or,  perhaps,  you  never  knew  it — but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  I  went  last  year  to  Switzerland,  and  thence 
to  Italy  for  the  winter.  Margot  was  staying  with 
me  up  to  the  time  of  my  leaving.  She  was  to  pay 
another  visit  to  some  friends  at  Heckmansworth, 
and  was  to  have  left  by  an  earlier  train  than  I  did. 
She  raised  an  objection  to  doing  so,  saying  that  she 
preferred  to  get  there  in  time  for  dinner.  She  never 
paid  that  visit  at  all.  She  wired  to  them  late  in  the 
evening  that  she  had  been  detained,  and  that  she 
would  follow  later.  The  following  day  she  wrote 
to  this  lady  saying  that  she  was  not  easy  about 
her  father,  and  would  prefer  to  go  home  in  three 
days'  time,  therefore  she  would  put  off  her  visit  for 
some  months.  Several  days  passed  before  she  re- 
turned home  to  Bladensbrook.  During  those  days 
she  was  married  to  your  son,  as  the  paper  in  my 
hand  is  sufficient  to  show." 


262  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  And  how  did  you  find  out  ?"  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook  asked. 

"  Well,  I  did  not  go  back  to  Brixham  until  the 
end  of  May.  I  stayed  all  the  winter  in  Italy,  and 
then  I  went  home  by  way  of  Geneva  and  stayed 
a  few  days  in  that  neighbourhood.  I  also  stayed  a 
few  days  in  Paris,  and  I  reached  home  at  the  end 
of  May.  I  happened  several  evenings  ago  to  be 
dining  with  a  friend,  a  friend  who  had  known  Mar- 
got,  having  seen  her  in  my  house.  She  asked  me 
in  the  most  casual  way  if  it  were  true  that  her 
father  was  dead,  and  I  replied  that  it  was ;  so  she 
asked,  then,  where  she  was,  and  I  replied  that  she 
had  been  left  to  your  guardianship,  and  that  I  be- 
lieved she  was  with  you  in  Switzerland.  The  gen- 
tleman who  had  taken  me  into  dinner  was  the 
Rector  of  an  adjoining  parish  ;  he  turned  round  and 
said,  '  What  was  the  name  of  the  lady  who  has 
been  left  guardian  to  your  niece  ?'  '  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook  of  Bladensbrook,'  I  replied.  'Ah,'  said  he, 
'  that  is  a  very  uncommon  name,  isn't  it  ?'  I  told 
him  that  I  did  not  believe  there  was  another  family 
of  the  same  name  in  England,  that  it  was  a  very 
uncommon  name.  '  Well,'  he  remarked, '  not  many 
months  ago  a  young  fellow  called  Bladensbrook  was 
married  in  my  church.  It  was  while  I  was  away, 
but  I  noticed  the  very  uncommon  name  in  the 
register  the  next  time  I  had  occasion  to  open  it. 
It  was  a  special  license  marriage,  and  the  girl's 

name  was '  However,  he  could  not  remember 

what  the  girl's  name  was  beyond  the  fact  that  it 
was  an  uncommon  name,  like  that  of  the  bride- 


ASTOUNDING  NEWS.  263 

groom.  '  I  will  look  it  up  the  next  time  I  am  in 
the  vestry,'  he  said,  '  and  when  I  see  you  again  I 
will  let  you  know  who  the  girl  was.'  The  following 
afternoon  he  came  to  see  me,  bringing  me  this  slip  of 
paper.  I  saw  in  a  moment  that  it  was  Margot  who 
was  married  to  your  son.  I  then  went  to  Mrs. 
Meredith,  at  Heckmansworth,  and  found  out  all 
that  she  knew,  and  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  come 
on  here  and  acquaint  you  with  the  true  state  of 
affairs." 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  drew  a  long  breath.  "  My 
dear  lady,"  she  said,  "  you  have  astonished  me  very 
much.  I  don't  know  that  I  was  ever  so  much  as- 
tonished in  my  whole  life  before.  I  must  say, 
however,  I  am  very  glad  that  my  son's  wife  is  so 
exactly  what  I  would  have  chosen  for  him.  Now 
that  you  have  acquainted  me  with  this  great  secret, 
Margot  will,  of  course,  be  released  from  that  part 
of  her  promise  to  Godfrey,  and  together  we  may 
bring  to  light  some  facts  which  may  help  us  to 
a  discovery  of  where  he  is." 

"  You  don't  know  where  he  is  ?"  asked  Mrs. 
Blake. 

"  I  have  not  the  very  smallest  idea.  I  had  a  letter 
from  my  son  dated  the  2Oth  of  August  last.  He 
promised  to  meet  me  the  following  day  at  the 
Alexandra  Hotel  in  London.  He  never  came  to 
meet  me.  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  a  single 
word  of  him  from  that  day  to  this." 

"  But  he  may  be  dead  !"  Mrs.  Blake  cried. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  shook  her  head.  "  I  don't  think 
that  Godfrey  is  dead.  I  have  never  thought  so. 


264  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

I  believe  if  he  were  dead,  that  he  would  have  found 
some  means  of  letting  me  know  it,  so  as  to  put  my 
anxiety  at  an  end.  No,  there  is  a  reason,  a  very 
mysterious  reason ;  what  it  is  I  cannot  imagine ;  but 
I  am  convinced  that  when  Godfrey  comes  home  he 
will  explain  everything  to  my  full  satisfaction." 

"  It  is  just  as  well  that  you  think  so,"  said  Mrs. 
Blake,  dryly.  "  Then  I  suppose  you  will  send  for 
the  young  lady  at  once  and  try  to  get  something 
more  of  the  truth  out  of  her  ?" 

"  No,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  I  shall  certainly 
not  send  for  Margot.  I  don't  think  that  this  place 
is  fit  for  any  young  girl  to  live  in  if  she  can  possibly 
keep  away  from  it — indeed,  to  one  coming  fresh 
from  the  pure  Swiss  air  it  would  be  most  dangerous, 
worse  than  for  those  who  have  lived  in  it  during 
the  whole  time  of  the  epidemic.  When  I  have 
quite  finished  my  business  here,  I  shall  go  back  to 
Grigon,  and  then  Margot  and  I  will  talk  everything 
over  together." 

I  think  that  Mrs.  Blake  felt  that  she  had  never 
really  known  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  She  felt  that  a 
woman  who  was  capable  of  hearing  such  important 
news  without  going  into  hysterics  over  it  was  a 
being  with  whom  she  had  no  power  to  cope. 
"  Well,  I  confess,"  she  said,  not  a  little  indignantly, 
"  that  I  cannot  understand  your  attitude.  I  should 
have  thought  that  you  would  be  furious  and  indig- 
nant at  being  kept  in  the  dark  in  this  shameful 
way.  I  feel  myself  that  I  can  never  forgive  Mar- 
got  for  having  gone  out  of  my  house  and  deceived 
me  so  utterly,  for  having  behaved  in  this  sly  and 


ASTOUNDING  NEWS.  26$ 

underhand  manner.  I  had  intended  to  leave  Mar- 
got  a  large  share  of  my  property,  but  after  this  I 
shall  be  very  much  disposed  to  change  my  inten- 
tion entirely." 

"  I  think,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  "  that  you 
had  far  better  leave  what  money  you  wish  to  the 
two  boys,  Jim  and  Jack.  They  are  dear,  good, 
honest,  open  boys,  and  they  have  none  too  much 
of  this  world's  goods.  As  it  is,  Margot  will  never 
require  more  money  than  she  will  have  as  my  son's 
wife." 

"  But  if  your  son  never  comes  back  again  the 
estate  then  goes  to  another ;  it  passes  from  this 
branch,  does  it  not  ?"  said  Mrs.  Blake,  who  knew 
perfectly  well  the  exact  history  of  the  Bladens- 
brook family. 

"  That  is  so  ;  but  that  consideration  I  think  will 
not  need  to  trouble  Margot  or  myself.  A  long 
time  must  elapse  before  the  law  would  be  satisfied 
that  my  son  was  dead.  I,  for  one,  shall  never  be- 
lieve it  until  I  have  the  most  absolute  proof  of  it. 
My  position  is,  of  course,  assured  in  any  case ;  but 
if  the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  and  I  knew  that  I  was 
childless,  Margot's  position  would  be  just  the  same 
as  it  is  to-day.  Whether  Godfrey  ever  returns 
home  or  not,  Margot  will  always  be  secure  in  her 
position  as  the  mother  of  his  child." 


266  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

WIDE   OF   THE    MARK. 

WHEN  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  made  known  the  in- 
formation to  her  visitor  that  Margot  was  the  mother 
of  a  child,  that  lady  realized  all  at  once  that  the 
great  bomb-shell  which  she  had  intended  to  drop 
into  the  Bladensbrook  household  had  fallen  utterly 
wide  of  its  mark.  In  truth,  Mrs.  Blake  was  bitterly 
angry  that  the  Rector  had  left  his  daughter  to  the 
guardianship  of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  rather  than 
allowing  that  office  to  devolve  upon  her.  Mrs. 
Blake  had  always  liked  Margot.  She  had  never 
had  a  child  of  her  own,  and  she  had  always  felt 
somewhat  of  a  grudge  against  the  Rector  in  that 
he  had  been  blessed  with  three.  She  was  a  woman 
who  loved  hectoring  over  others ;  she  loved  to 
make  Margot  feel  that  she  must  obey  the  com- 
mands which  she  laid  upon  her,  and  she  had 
thought  that  in  the  event  of  her  brother's  death 
she  would  be  left  Margot's  sole  guardian,  and  that 
until  she  was  one-and-twenty  at  least  she  would 
remain,  body  and  soul,  so  to  speak,  at  her  disposal. 
All  these  nice  little  plans  had  been  frustrated  by 
the  Rector's  action  in  leaving  Margot  to  the  care 
of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  and  it  was  with  a  feeling 
almost  of  vindictiveness  that  she  had  hurried  off  to 
lay  bare  the  whole  truth  before  that  lady  as  soon 
as  she  discovered  the  fact  of  Margot's  marriage  to 


WIDE   OF  THE  MARK.  267 

Godfrey ;  and  then  to  find  that  after  all  she  had 
only  known  half  the  story,  to  discover  that  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  was  evidently  more  relieved  than 
words  could  tell,  to  find  that  she  had  only  brought 
welcome  information,  and  that  her  shot  had  abso- 
lutely failed  in  its  intention,  was  truly  exceedingly 
bitter  to  her.  "  I  will  ask  you,"  she  said  with  much 
dignity,  "  to  ring  for  the  fly  which  brought  me 
here." 

As  Mrs.  Blake  grew  more  angry,  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook became  more  suave  and  gracious.  "  No,  no ; 
I  cannot  hear  of  your  going  like  this.  You  are 
staying  the  night  in  Exhampton.  I  will  ring  for 
tea ;  it  will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
you  will  stay  and  have  some  dinner  with  me  ?" 

"  No,  I  thank  you,  I  thank  you  very  much.  I 
return  this  evening." 

"  Not  to  Brixham,  surely  ?" 

"  Not  to  Brixham.     I  go  to  London." 

"  In  that  case,  of  course,  I  cannot  detain  you," 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ;  "  but  there  is  no  train  to 
London  until  the  one  at  five  minutes  after  six 
o'clock.  As  it  is  now  but  a  little  after  four,  you 
have  lots  of  time  to  have  a  cup  of  tea  before  you 
go.  I  beg  you  will  not  refuse  me.  I  shall  be 
very  unhappy  and  uncomfortable  if  you  go  without 
having  anything." 

Thus  adjured,  Mrs.  Blake  consented  very  stiffly, 
indeed,  to  remain  for  a  cup  of  tea. 

"  Matthew,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  when  that 
bland  personage  came  to  her  in  answer  to  her  sum- 
mons, "let  us  have  tea  immediately,  and  don't 


268  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

admit  any  other  visitors — no,  not  even  the  Rector. 
Mrs.  Blake  and  I  have  still  something  to  talk 
over.  But  do  you  let  us  have  tea  at  once,  and  a 
nice  tea — something  hot,  muffins,  toast,  I  don't 
know — as  nice  as  you  can  bring.  And  Mrs.  Blake's 
cabman,  see  that  he  has  a  thoroughly  good  tea, 
and  that  the  horse  is  fed  and  all  that;  and  Mrs. 
Blake  would  like  to  have  her  cab  at  the  door — what 
time  shall  we  say,  Mrs.  Blake  ?  A  quarter  to  five  ? 
That  will  give  you  half  an  hour  longer." 

"  Yes,  thank  you ;  a  quarter  to  five,"  said  Mrs. 
Blake. 

"  That  will  get  you  back  in  nice  time  for  the 
train — in  very  good  time  for  the  train.  Yes,  Mat- 
thew, as  quickly  as  you  can." 

The  discreet  Matthew  bustled  noiselessly  away 
and  returned  so  soon  that  it  was  evident  the  tea 
had  been  actually  on  its  way  when  his  mistress  had 
summoned  him.  Mrs.  Blake  was  herself  a  rich 
woman,  but  a  woman  who  did  not  make  the  best 
use  of  her  riches — I  mean  who  did  not  extract  the 
utmost  comfort  and  enjoyment  out  of  the  amount 
of  money  that  she  annually  spent.  She  looked  at 
the  delicate  tea-cloth  with  its  deep  edge  of  coarse 
lace,  at  the  great  silver  tray  and  small  extra  table 
set  out  with  good  things,  a  glass  and  silver  jar 
filled  with  the  daintiest  bon-bons,  a  covered  dish 
containing  the  "  something  hot"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
had  asked  for,  and  a  charming  arrangement  with 
several  compartments  holding  different  kinds  of 
bread  and  butter,  cake  and  biscuits.  She  realized 
that  although  none  of  this  was  beyond  her  means, 


WIDE    OF  THE   MARK.  269 

yet  that  she  could  never  induce  her  servants  to 
serve  afternoon  tea  quite  in  the  same  way.  "  I  sup- 
pose it  is  with  being  a  manufacturing  town,"  her 
thoughts  ran ;  "  these  servants  have  been  here  for- 
ever. It  must  make  a  great  difference ;  mine  are 
always  aching  to  get  married." 

They  were  very  friendly  over  the  little  meal,  but 
did  not  revert  in  any  way  further  to  the  news  which 
Mrs.  Blake  had  brought,  and  when  the  time  was 
drawing  near  for  her  departure,  Mrs.  Blake  asked 
how  long  her  hostess  would  be  remaining  at  Bla- 
densbrook. 

"  I  cannot  very  well  leave  for  a  few  days,"  she 
replied.  "  Of  course,  there  is  no  particular  hurry, 
as  Margot  is  quite  safe  with  Nancy  and  her 
nurse." 

"  You  won't  go  back  on  purpose  ?" 

"  No ;  I  shall  not  go  back  until  I  have  finished 
my  business  here,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  replied. 

"  And  what  do  you  intend  to  do  afterwards  ?" 

"  To  do  ?     I  don't  quite  understand  you." 

"  There's  my  fly,  so  that  I  cannot  explain  myself 
fully ;  but  do  you  expect  me  to  be  silent  about  this 
marriage  ?" 

"  By  no  means,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  "  Tell 
everybody — the  sooner  the  better.  You  will  leave 
me  that  certificate,  won't  you  ?  I  shall  need  it  for 
several  reasons." 

"  Then  you  mean  to  announce  the  marriage  ?" 

"  Certainly.  I  shall  do  so  as  soon  as  I  have  seen 
Margot.  I  would  do  so  at  once,  only  she  is  not 
very  strong  yet,  and  it  would  be  unwise  to  spring  the 
23* 


2/0  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

news  upon  her.  "  Well,  so  you  must  go  ?  Well, 
good-bye,  dear  lady,  and  thank  you  so  very  much 
for  bringing  me  this  news.  You  have  gladdened 
my  heart  more  than  words  of  mine  can  express  to 
you." 

In  the  face  of  such  a  sentiment  as  this  Mrs. 
Blake  had  no  choice  but  to  grin  and  nod  her  head 
and  take  both  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  dainty  hands, 
and  finally  get  herself  back  into  the  dingy  fly,  nod- 
ding and  jerking  her  hand  to  and  fro  like  a  dilapi- 
dated mandarin.  She  was  very  angry,  but  it  was 
no  use  being  angry  with  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
Nobody  could  show  anger  to  a  woman  who  had 
received  such  a  piece  of  news  in  such  a  manner. 

Meantime,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  gone  back 
into  the  house  and  sat  down  again  just  where  she 
had  been  sitting  during  the  time  that  her  visitor 
had  been  with  her.  So  this  was  the  bottom  of  the 
mystery,  and  Godfrey  and  Margot  were  man  and 
wife,  father  and  mother  of  that  child  !  It  was  very 
strange.  It  was  something  more  than  strange. 
And  how  odd  to  think  that  she  had  never  once 
suspected  it ;  she  ought  to  have  known  it,  it  was 
plain  enough  to  be  seen — for  any  one  that  had  eyes 
to  see.  The  likeness  of  the  child  to  Godfrey  was 
so  strong  that  now  she  wondered  what  she  could 
have  been  thinking  of  to  have  watched  that  child 
day  after  day  and  not  have  known  just  where  to 
place  the  likeness.  But  all  this  brought  her  no 
nearer  to  the  whereabouts  of  Godfrey.  She  felt 
sure  that  Margot  was  as  much  in  the  dark  as  she 
herself;  she  felt  convinced  that  if  she  had  known 


WIDE    OF   THE  MARK.  2Jl 

anything  of  Godfrey's  whereabouts  she  would  not 
have  looked  so  desolate,  so  heart-broken  as  she 
had  done  for  months  before  the  birth  of  the  child. 
Yet,  why  had  this  marriage  been  kept  a  secret? 
What  could  have  been  Godfrey's  reason  ?  He 
could  have  had  no  real  reason  except  possibly  an 
entanglement  with  another  woman.  Well,  she  must 
possess  her  soul  in  patience  until  she  found  her- 
self back  at  Grigon  and  was  able  to  elicit  from 
Margot  any  information  that  she  might  happen  to 
possess. 

At  this  moment  Matthew  came  discreetly  in. 
"  The  Rector,  Madam,  is  coming  up  the  drive. 
Will  you  receive  him  ?" 

"  Oh,  certainly.  It  was  only  that  Mrs.  Blake 
wanted  to  talk  something  over,  Matthew.  Cer- 
tainly I  will  see  the  Rector.  Bring  in  some  fresh 
tea." 

"  My  dear  Rector,"  she  said,  a  moment  later,  "you 
have  just  missed  our  esteemed  friend,  Mrs.  Blake 
— Aunt  Marcia.  Ah,  I  forget !  You  do  not  know 
her  as  I  do.  She  is  a  somewhat  grewsome  lady 
of  gloomy  aspects  and  a  blighted  kind  of  existence. 
I  never  could  tell  why  Aunt  Marcia  always 
seemed  to  be  blighted.  She  is  very  comfortably 
off;  she  has  no  one  to  say  her  nay ;  she  comes  and 
goes  as  she  likes,  and  is  blessed  with  excellent 
health,  but  still  she  always  seems  to  take  a  gloomy 
pleasure  in  seeing  the  worst  of  everything  and  of 
everybody — a  curious  habit,  a  very  curious  habit." 

"  And  of  whom  has  she  been  seeing  the  worst 
now  ?" 


2/2  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Well,  she  has  not  exactly  been  seeing  the 
worst  of  anybody — Oh,  I  didn't  mean  that  for  a 
moment,  but  she  brought  me  a  piece  of  news.  You 
remember  what  I  told  you  about  Margot  some 
time  ago  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  perfectly,"  said  the  Rector. 

"Well,  Mrs.  Blake  by  a  mere  chance  happened 
to  light  upon  a  piece  of  news  which  I  might  almost 
call  the  fulfilment  of  what  I  told  you." 

"  Indeed !" 

"  Yes.  Margot — I  had  better  tell  you  without 
breaking  it  to  you,  you  are  a  man  and  men  take 
things  more  easily  than  women  do — :Margot  is 
married." 

"  Margot  is  married  ?" 

"Well,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  Rector,  I  have 
known  for  some  time  that  Margot  was  married, 
since  just  after  the  death  of  our  friend,  in  fact." 

"  You  don't  mean  it !" 

"  Yes.     Did  it  never  strike  you  as  possible  ?" 

"  Never." 

"  Well,  Margot  is  married.  I  knew  it ;  I  taxed 
her  with  it.  She  admitted  it,  and  she  implored  me 
to  ask  no  questions  and  to  find  out  nothing  for  a 
time,  as  she  was  under  a  promise  to  say  nothing.  I 
am  very  fond  of  the  child,  and  I  consented.  Mar- 
got  was  married  last  August." 

"  Impossible !" 

"Yes,  true.  She  is  very  much  married.  She 
~-in  fact,  there  is  a  baby." 

"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook !" 

"  That  was  the  reason  I  did  not  bring  her  home 


COMMON  SENSE.  2f$ 

— one  reason,  at  least — with  me  this  time.  Mrs. 
Blake  to-day  brought  me  the  news  of  the  wedding. 
It  was  no  news  to  me,  but  she  brought  me  a  piece 
of  information  which  was  news  to  me — great  news 
to  me,  astounding  news.  Margot  was  married  on 
the  1 6th  of  August  last  to  my  son.  Margot's 
little  child  is  my  grandson — Godfrey's  heir!" 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

COMMON    SENSE. 

As  soon  as  she  could  free  herself  of  the  business 
matters  at  Bladensbrook,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  re- 
turned with  as  little  delay  as  possible  to  the  Swiss 
town  where  she  left  Margot  and  the  child.  Her 
meeting  with  Margot  in  the  new  guise  of  her  son's 
wife  was  very  characteristic  of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
She  met  her  exactly  as  if  she  had  learned  nothing, 
admired  the  child,  talked  a  little  with  the  nurse, 
was  graciously  commendatory  to  Nancy,  and  said 
not  one  word  of  the  knowledge  which  had  come 
to  her  ears  until  they  had  dined  and  she  and  Mar- 
got  were  sitting  in  their  sitting-room  alone  together. 
Then  she  as  characteristically  plunged  straight  into 
the  subject.  "  My  dear  child,"  she  said,  "  I  have  a 
great  piece  of  news  for  you." 

"  You  have  heard  something  of  Godfrey  ?"  said 
Margot,  turning  her  startled  eyes  upon  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook. 


274  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  something  of  Godfrey,  but 
not  of  Godfrey's  whereabouts.  It  is  no  use  beat- 
ing about  the  bush,  Margot ;  it  is  better  for  me  to 
tell  you  at  once  that  I  know  who  your  husband  is 
and  the  father  of  your  child,  my  grandson,  Ralph 
Bladensbrook." 

Margot  half  jumped  up  from  her  seat,  then  sank 
back  into  it  with  a  scared  white  face  and  trembling 
hands.  "  How  did  you  hear?"  she  asked. 

"  I  tried  to  find  out  nothing,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook, putting  out  a  cool,  steady  hand  and  laying 
it  upon  the  girl's  shaking  fingers.  "  I  trusted  you, 
and  I  had  given  you  my  promise,  and  therefore 
I  never  thought  for  a  moment  of  trying  in  any  way 
to  spy  upon  your  reserve,  or  of  trying  to  make  you 
break  your  promise  to  one  who  is  absent,  but  I  had 
a  visitor  whilst  I  was  at  home,  a  visitor  whose  pres- 
ence surprised  me  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  I 
think  it  was  a  surprise  to  herself." 

"  A  lady  ?"  said  Margot. 

"  A  lady — your  Aunt  Marcia." 

"  Aunt  Marcia !" 

"  Yes.  Apparently  she  came  over  from  Brixham 
— a  good  long  journey,  Margot — on  purpose  to 
tell  me  the  astounding  news  that  you  were  married. 
Well,  of  course,  my  dear  child,  that  was  no  news  to 
me,  though  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  you  were 
married  to  Godfrey." 

"  And  you  didn't  mind  ?"  cried  Margot. 

"  I  should  not  mind  at  all  if  we  knew  where 
Godfrey  was,  and  why  he  is  keeping  out  of  our 
sight  in  this  inexplicable  manner.  But,  now  that 


COMMON  SENSE.  2?$ 

you  are  released  from  the  necessity  of  any  longer 
hiding  from  me  who  your  husband  is,  there  can  be 
no  reason  why  you  should  not  confide  in  me  as 
fully  as  lies  in  your  power ;  and  I  have  great  hopes, 
Margot,  that  through  such  confidence  we  may  gain 
a  clue  to  Godfrey's  present  whereabouts." 

"  Oh,  I  can  tell  you  all  now,"  said  Margot,  "  all 
that  has  been  so  carefully  kept  back  from  you  be- 
cause of  my  promise ;  all  that  I  have  been  dying 
to  tell  you,  and  that  I  feel  sure  you  have  been 
wanting  to  hear,  even  though  you  did  not  know  it 
was  Godfrey  all  the  time.  You  see,  dear  lady,  I 
was  bound  by  my  promise.  I  had  no  choice  but  to 
obey  Godfrey's  wishes,  particularly  as  he  was  so 
soon  lost  to  me.  But  do  tell  me — Aunt  Marcia, 
was  she  very  angry  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes,  she  was  rather  angry,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook.  "She  indignantly  refused  tea — I 
asked  her  to  dinner,  but  she  rejected  that  proposal 
with  contumely,  not  to  say  upbraiding — I  finally 
persuaded  her  to  have  tea,  and  she  made  a  very 
good  tea.  I  took  particular  notice  of  that  because 
she  was  so  instant  in  refusing  it  at  first.  Well,  she 
is  rather  angry,  Margot,  and  she  doesn't  think  that 
she  is  going  to  leave  you  any  money." 

"  Oh,"  said  Margot,  "  I  shall  get  over  that." 

"  I  politely  told  her  so.  I  very  politely  and 
suavely  recommended  her  to  leave  anything  that 
she  has  to  spare  from  other  purposes  to  your 
brothers.  I  told  her  that  under  any  circumstances 
you  would  never  want  money.  Whether  she  will 
take  my  advice  or  not,  of  course,  remains  to  be 


2/6  A   MAGNIFICENT*   YOUNG  MAN. 

seen.  Of  course,  it  was  a  tremendous  card  being 
able  to  tell  me  that  your  husband  was  my  son, 
Godfrey,  but  on  the  other  hand  I  had  quite  a  check- 
mate in  being  able  to  tell  her  of  my  grandson, 
Ralph.  I  enjoyed  the  interview.  I  also  told  Mr. 
Morris." 

"  You  told  him"  breathed  Margot 

"  My  dear  child,  I  announced  it  to  the  servants, 
of  course  I  did.  I  don't  know  Godfrey's  reasons 
for  keeping  the  marriage  secret ;  they  are  to  me  in- 
explicable, seeing  that  he  had  nobody  but  himself 
to  consult ;  but  as  the  marriage  is  known  to  more 
than  one  person,  to  persons  whom  we  could  not 
ask  to  keep  such  a  matter  secret  and  who  will,  in- 
deed, make  a  point  of  spreading  the  information 
wherever  they  go,  it  is  better  to  be  prepared  at  once 
for  action,  and  to  that  end  I  shall  immediately  an- 
nounce your  marriage  and  the  birth  of  the  child  in 
all  the  leading  English  papers.  By  the  bye,  Mar- 
got,  what  was  the  reason  that  you  and  Godfrey 
kept  this  matter  secret  at  all  ?" 

"  Dear  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,"  cried  Margot,  sink- 
ing down  in  a  heap  on  the  floor  at  her  mother-in- 
law's  feet,  "  I  can  tell  you  everything  now — so  far 
as  I  know  it.  Godfrey  and  I  had  been  engaged 
ever  so  long — well,  engaged  in  this  way.  He  didn't 
ask  me  to  marry  him  because,  as  he  said,  he  was  so 
ridiculously  young  and  I  was  still  worse,  but  we  un- 
derstood each  other,  and  then  when  he  came  of  age 
— oh,  surely,  you  must  have  noticed  something  ?" 

"  Not  a  thing,  my  dear.  I  had  no  suspicion  of 
the  truth  whatever." 


COMMON  SENSE.  277 

"  Well,  he  did  speak  out  then,  and  I  said  that  we 
were  so  awfully  young  I  felt  that  people  would 
laugh  at  us,  and  I  made  him  promise  to  wait  until 
his  next  birthday  before  he  announced  it,  and  then, 
of  course,  I  would  have  been  married  in  three 
months  or  four  months,  just  as  he  chose.  Of  course, 
you  quite  understand  that  I  didn't  bind  Godfrey  in 
any  way.  I  told  him  that  he  ought  to  see  other 
girls,  that  he  might  change.  I  wouldn't  hear  of 
anything  binding." 

"  I  see.     In  short,  you  acted  very  discreetly." 

"  Well,  then  I  was  staying  with  Auntie  at  Brix- 
ham.  It  was  very  dull,  and  I  hated  being  with 
Auntie ;  she  is  so  uncomfortable  to  live  with,  always 
fussing  after  the  servants  and  never  satisfied  with 
anything,  and  always  spying  around  and  wanting 
to  see  one's  letters  and  generally  making  herself 
a  nuisance ;  and  really  I  had  done  quite  a  long 
duty  visit,  and  I  was  awfully  tired  of  being  there 
with  Auntie,  and  I  had  promised  to  go  and  pay  a 
little  visit  to  Mrs.  Meredith.  Well,  I  had  to  go 
past,  or  at  least  very  near  to,  Blankhampton,  and 
Godfrey  had  been  writing  to  me,  since  some  little 
time,  indeed,  and  I  suggested,  or  he  suggested,  or 
it  came  about  somehow,  that  he  should  meet  me 
on  the  journey  and  travel  with  me  until  he  saw  me 
safe  into  the  second  train  which  would  take  me  to 
Mrs.  Meredith's  station.  Of  course,  I  suppose  it 
was  rather  wrong.  Auntie  would  have  been  furious 
if  she  had  known,  but  still  we  were  engaged,  you 
know.  And  the  train  got  smashed  up." 

"  With  you  in  it  ?" 

24 


2/8  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

"  Yes.  There  were  several  people  killed.  You 
won't  remember  the  accident,  but  it  was  in  a  tunnel 
just  before  you  get  to  Ruxfurd,  and  all  my  things 
were  smashed  up,  my  box  was  found  under  the 
engine — I  can't  tell  you  how  dreadful  it  was.  And 
of  course  I  couldn't  get  on  to  Heckmansworth,  for 
the  tunnel  was  blocked  and  was  not  likely  to  be 
cleared  in  time  for  me  to  get  on  that  night.  Well, 
eventually  we  got  back  to  Brixham,  and  I  tele- 
graphed to  Mrs.  Meredith  that  she  was  not  to  ex- 
pect me.  I  said  my  plans  were  changed,  and  so  on, 
and  then  I  wrote  to  her  and  told  her  that  I  was 
rather  uneasy  about  Father — which  was  true,  you 
know — and  that  I  would  prefer  going  home  and 
paying  my  visit  to  her  later.  Then  I  had  to  think  of 
going  home  and  arriving  with  no  clothes.  I  knew 
if  I  said  I  was  in  a  railway  accident  that  Father 
would  apply  for  my  things,  and  you  see,  Godfrey, 
in  a  moment  of  real  recklessness  when  the  guard 
asked  him  for  his  name,  said  '  Smith,  of  London,' 
and  that  I  was  his  sister !  I  don't  know  what  pos- 
sessed him — he  said  afterwards  that  he  didn't  know 
himself — but  I  was  in  an  awful  state  and  frightened 
to  death,  and  I  thought  that  perhaps  you  would 
object  to  me  altogether  if  you  knew,  and  so  he 
determined  that  he  would  rush  up  to  town  the 
next  morning  and  get  a  special  license.  And  so  he 
did,  and  we  were  married  the  next  afternoon." 

"  Then  you  went  back  to  the  hotel  as  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  ?" 

"  No,  we  went  to  the  hotel  as  Mr.  and  Miss 
Smith.  He  went  up  to  town  that  night — I  forgot 


COMMON  SENSE.  279 

that — he  went  up  by  the  last  train,  by  the  mail,  and 
we  were  married  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  at 
the  church,  the  certificate  says — I  forget  the  name 
— and  then  we  went  to  another  hotel  as  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smith." 

"  But,  my  dear  child,  why  as  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  ?" 

"  Well,  it  was  like  this.  We  went  to  see  after 
my  clothes.  We  found  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  getting  anything  except  just  a  little  box  that 
had  some  trinkets  in  it,  everything  else  was  ruined, 
and  I  only  wanted  to  stay  long  enough  to  get  a 
few  things  so  that  nobody  would  notice  the  ab- 
sence of  luggage  when  I  got  home.  Of  course, 
Nancy  did  notice,  and  I  had  to  put  her  off  with  the 
best  excuse  I  could.  Well,  the  first  person  we  saw 
when  we  got  to  Ruxfurd  was  the  guard  who  had 
seen  us  when  we  first  got  out  of  the  wrecked  train. 
He  recognized  us  at  once,  and  told  Godfrey  he 
thought  he  might  be  wanted  at  the  inquest,  and 
Godfrey  thought  as  he  had  given  the  name  of 
Smith  he  had  better  stick  to  it  whilst  he  was  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Well,  he  intended  to  meet  you 
on  the  Monday,  and  told  me  everything  about  it, 
and  that  he  should  take  an  opportunity  of  disclos- 
ing everything  to  you.  I  parted  from  him  on  the 
Saturday  and  he  went  back 'to  Blankhampton,  and 
I  have  never  heard  or  seen  anything  of  him  since 
except  two  letters  I  have  had." 

"  You  have  had  a  letter  from  him  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  had  a  letter  from  him  on  the  day  you 
went  to  meet  him  in  London.  I  have  been  burst- 


2 SO  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

ing  to  tell  you.  I  felt  that  I  ought  to  tell  you,  and 
yet  because  of  my  promise  I  have  been  obliged  to 
keep  it  locked  up  in  my  breast.  That  is  why  I 
have  been  so  wan  and  wretched.  It  is  only  dar- 
ling Baby  that  has  lifted  the  load  a  little  from  my 
heart." 

"My  poor  child!"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
"there  is  no  reason  to  distress  yourself.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  Godfrey  has  some  good  reason  for 
this  curious  disappearance  of  his.  What  did  he 
say  on  the  morning  that  you  heard  from  him  ?" 

"  Stay,  I  will  go  and  get  you  the  two  letters," 
said  Margot.  She  jumped  up  from  her  lowly  po- 
sition and  ran  into  the  adjoining  room,  that  is  to 
say,  her  bedroom.  In  a  few  minutes  she  came  back 
carrying  a  small  jewel-box,  which  she  unlocked 
and  from  which  she  took  two  letters  and  handed 
them  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  The  first  was  the  let- 
ter  which  she  had  received  on  the  2Oth  of  August 
of  the  previous  year. 

"  I  told  you  so !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  as  soon 
as  her  eyes  had  scanned  the  page.  "  I  knew  there 
was  a  reason  for  it.  Now  what  is  that  reason  ?" 

"  Nay,"  said  Margot,  "  I  have  racked  my  brains 
day  and  night  wondering  what  could  have  happened 
to  make  Godfrey  turn  his  back  deliberately  and 
unmistakably  and  by  his  own  will — as  you  will  see 
when  you  read  this  letter — upon  all  of  us.  I  might 
have  thought  that  he  had  repented ;  but  still,  if 
he  had,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  would  never  have 
turned  his  back  upon  the  victim  of  such  a  mistake. 
Besides — there  is  the  other  letter." 


COMMON  SENSE.  28l 

"  Let  me  read  it,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

But  the  second  letter  was  more  inexplicable  than 
the  first  one.  "  What  in  the  wide  world  can  it 
mean  ?"  said  Godfrey's  mother. 

"  It  is  a  mystery,"  said  Godfrey's  wife,  "  and  I 
have  been  trying  to  fathom  it  ever  since  the  2Oth 
of  last  August." 

For  some  little  time  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  sat  pro- 
foundly silent  leaning  her  head  upon  her  hands. 
Margot  did  not  dare  to  interrupt  her  by  so  much 
as  a  word ;  then  at  last  Godfrey's  mother  looked 
up  and  spoke.  "  Margot,  my  child,"  she  said,  in  a 
tone  of  one  who  has  come  to  a  complete  conclu- 
sion after  long  thinking,  "  I  will  tell  you  what  we 
will  do  first  of  all.  We  will  get  this  marriage  of 
yours  thoroughly  announced,  so  that  there  shall  be 
no  mistake  upon  that  score,  then  we  will  leave  this 
place  and  we  will  go  home.  We  cannot  perhaps 
take  the  child  to  Bladensbrook ;  we  will  see  what 
sort  of  a  bill  of  health  the  place  shows  in  a  week's 
time — if  we  cannot  take  him  there,  he  shall  go  to 
some  seaside  place  where  you  can  easily  join  him 
— then  you  and  I  will  go  to  Brixham " 

"  Not  to  Brixham  !"  cried  Margot 

"  Oh,  yes ;  we  are  not  obliged  to  stay  with  your 
Aunt  Marcia,  that  would  be  a  most  unnecessary 
complication  of  affairs.  We  will  go  to  Brixham, 
and  we  will  see  if  we  cannot  trace  out  the  career  of 
Mr.  William  Smith,  of  London,  from  the  time  at 
which  you  parted  with  him  believing  he  was  to 
return  direct  to  Blankhampton." 

"  It  might  do,"  said  Margot,  doubtfully,  "  but  I 
24* 


282  A   MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

don't  believe  that  an  ordinary  person  like  William 
Smith,  who  practically  came  from  nowhere  and 
apparently  went  to  nowhere  will  be  easy  to  trace." 

"  Not  easy,  perhaps,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook ; 
"  but  it  is  a  chance,  and  you  and  I  will  follow  it  to 
the  very  end.  And  now,  my  dear  child,  you  must 
remember  this — there  is  to  be  no  more  dolce  far 
niente  with  that  baby  of  yours.  He  is  very  precious 
and  very  beautiful,  I  admit,  and  the  wonder  to  me 
is  that  I  did  not  see  the  likeness  in  him  to  God- 
frey. He  is  exactly  like  what  Godfrey  was  at  that 
time  of  day,  the  likeness  is  ludicrous.  It  only 
shows  how  blind  we  are  until  things  are  pointed 
out  to  us — but,  charming  and  delightful  as  little 
Ralph  is,  you  and  I  have  sterner  work  to  do  than 
to  make  love  to  him.  You  must  lose  no  chance  of 
getting  strong  and  well,  able  to  bear  fatigue,  sus- 
pense and  anxiety — we  do  not  know  what  may  be 
before  us,  we  do  not  know  how  far  our  strength 
may  be  taxed ;  you  must  eat,  drink,  walk,  sleep,  do 
everything  to  make  yourself  fit  and  strong,  strong 
to  endure  and  fit  to  help  me  to  find  Godfrey.  I 
feel  perfectly  certain  that  there  is  some  awful  and 
dreadful  mistake  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  business. 
I  don't  know  why  I  should  have  had  such  a  convic- 
tion, but  you  will  remember  from  the  very  first  I 
put  aside  all  idea  of  Godfrey  being  dead.  I  knew 
Godfrey  was  living.  I  feel  as  certain  now  that  if 
we  make  an  effort  we  shall  succeed  in  finding  him." 

"  I  will  do  anything  that  you  tell  me.  I  will  do 
anything  that  you  wish,"  said  Margot. 

"  That  is  my  good  child — that  is  my  own  daugh- 


COMMON  SENSE.  283 

ter,  my  son's  wife,  my  grandson's  mother,"  ex- 
claimed Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  in  what  for  her  was 
quite  a  gush  of  tenderness.  "  Then,  Margot,  our 
first  task  will  be  to  announce  the  truth  to  Nancy 
and  the  nurse." 

"  That  is  as  you  think  best,"  said  Margot. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  did  announce  the  news  to 
Nancy  in  quite  her  own  characteristic  fashion,  and 
Nancy,  who  stood  in  as  much  awe  and  admiration 
of  the  lady  of  Bladensbrook,  received  the  informa- 
tion with  uplifted  hands  and  many  expressions  of 
wonder  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  were  indications 
of  a  position  a  very  long  way  from  the  actual  truth. 

"  I  guessed  all  along  who  my  young  lady's  hus- 
band was,"  she  said  to  the  nurse,  when  they  were 
discussing  their  breakfast." 

"  What !     You  knew  ?" 

"  I  didn't  know,  of  course.  As  you  went  and  reg- 
istered the  child  and  answered  all  the  questions 
about  the  baby  at  the  baptism,  I  knew,  of  course, 
that  you  knew.  I  didn't  ask  you,  because  it  wasn't 
my  business  to  find  out  what  my  young  mistress 
wanted  to  keep  a  secret — I  preferred  to  know 
nothing  of  it — but  at  the  same  time  I  have  always 
had  eyes  in  my  head,  and  I  always  thought  that 
Mr.  Bladensbrook  was  the  man." 

"  What  made  you  think  so  ?"  asked  the  nurse. 

"  Why,  didn't  her  husband  and  Madam's  son 
disappear  on  the  very  same  day?  I  have  been 
wondering  all  along  where  Madam's  wonderful  wit 
was.  They  always  say  at  home,  at  Bladensbrook, 
you  know,  that  Madam  can  see  through  a  two-inch 


284  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

deal  board  and  right  through  a  stone  wall,  but  I 
begin  to  have  my  doubts  about  Madam's  wonder- 
ful quickness.  And  then  my  young  lady,  she  goes 
and  calls  the  child  Ralph.  Why  the  old  squire 
that  was  kicked  to  death  by  his  favourite  hunter, 
he  was  called  Ralph !  And  yet  Madam  never 
noticed  it  Dear !  How  blind  some  of  these 
clever  people  are." 

"  You  knew,  perhaps,  that  they  were  courting  ?" 

"  Well,  I  didn't  know,  not  as  a  matter  of  fact," 
said  Nancy,  who  was  quite  above  any  pretensions 
in  the  matter, "  and  I  don't  pretend  to  have  second 
sight  or  anything  of  that  kind,  but  I  do  pretend  to 
have  common  sense  and  I  used  it." 

"  Ah,"  said  the  nurse,  "  for  every-day  hard  wear 
recommend  me  to  common  sense." 

A  few  days  after  this  everybody  who  knew  the 
name  of  Bladensbrook  was  startled  by  the  appear- 
ance of  two  announcements  in  every  English  paper 
of  note.  They  ran  thus, — 

On  the  1 6th  August,  18 — ,  Godfrey  Bladensbrook  of  Bladens- 
brook to  Margot,  only  daughter  of  the  Reverend  William  Dan- 
gerfield.  Rector  of  Bladensbrook,  Loamshire. 

On  May  gth,  at  Grigon,  Switzerland,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  of 
Bladensbrook,  Loamshire,  of  a  son  and  heir. 


"  TO  WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON."      285 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

"TO   WILLIAM   SMITH,    OF   LONDON." 

IF  an  observant  person  had  studied  the  agony 
column  of  the  various  papers  on  the  day  on  which 
the  announcements  of  Godfrey  Bladensbrook's 
marriage  and  of  the  birth  of  his  son  and  heir  made 
their  appearance,  they  would  have  noticed  the  fol- 
lowing advertisement,  which  was  addressed  to 
"  William  Smith,  of  London."  It  ran  thus : 

"  Your  mother  and  wife  entreat  you  to  communicate  with  them. 
They  cannot  understand  why  you  have  remained  silent  so  long. 
If  you  look  at  the  papers  carefully  you  will  see  interesting  news 
concerning  yourself.  Now,  that  all  is  known  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  necessity  for  your  remaining  out  of  sight  any  longer ; 
at  the  same  time  your  mother  does  not  see  why  the  necessity  need 
ever  have  arisen,  as  you  were  at'perfect  liberty  to  please  yourself  in 
all  matters  concerning  your  mode  of  life.  Your  wife  received  your 
letters  of  August  -gth,  postmark  Brixham,  and  February  1 7th, 
postmark  London ;  and  as  you  are  aware  is  not  able  to  answer 
them  as  you  gave  no  address.  You  had  better  address,  when 
writing,  to  Messrs.  Wood  &  Co,,  200  Old  Jewry,  London,  E.  C., 
as  your  wife  and  mother  are  not  at  home  and  will  therefore  receive 
the  letter  a  day  or  more  earlier." 

There  are  always  some  curious  persons  who  read 
their  newspapers  rather  for  the  sake  of  gaining 
sensations  than  from  a  desire  to  learn  the  news  of 
the  day.  A  very  estimable  person  confessed  to 
me  not  long  ago  that  the  reason  she  never  read  a 
newspaper  on  Sunday  was,  not  because  she  thought 
it  particularly  wicked,  but  because  there  was  no 


286  A   MAGNIFICENT    YOUNG   MAN. 

Court  news  in  it.  She  was  one  of  the  strictest  sect, 
— well,  we  will  not  say  of  the  Pharisees, — but  of  a 
noted  Nonconformist  body  which  forbids  the  use  of 
newspapers  and  other  amusements  on  the  Sabbath. 
But  that  was  her  candid  opinion,  her  inside  opinion, 
so  to  speak,  not  the  opinion  she  gave  to  the  world, 
— her  world, — but  the  one  which  she  gave  to  me. 
There  is  another  class  of  persons  who  always  read 
the  agony  column,  and  of  the  many  who  read  it 
on  the  day  when  the  advertisement  to  William 
Smith  made  its  appearance,  few  there  were  who  did 
not  turn  the  paper  inside  and  out  scanning  it 
eagerly  to  discover  the  interesting  news  for  which 
William  Smith  had  been  bidden  to  search,  but  of 
all  these  there  was  only  one  who  in  any  sense  put 
two  and  two  together,  and  that  one  did  not  put 
together  the  two  and  two  of  the  agony  and  the 
"  Hatch,  Match,  and  Despatch"  column.  This  one 
was  a  young  lady  at  Brixham,  in  short,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  hotel-keeper  at  whose  establishment 
Godfrey  and  Margot  had  passed  their  brief  honey- 
moon. She  read  the  announcement  again  and 
again,  and  then  she  carried  the  paper  out  of  the 
bar  into  the  private  parlour  where  her  father  was 
enjoying  his  afternoon  forty  winks.  "  Are  you 
awake,  Dad  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Awake  ?  Yes,  I  never  go  to  sleep.  I  was  only 
resting  a  bit." 

"  Yes,  I  know,  Dad,  you  were  resting.  But  you 
are  rested  enough  to  let  me  show  you  something  ?" 

"  Why,  yes,  my  dear,  why  shouldn't  I  be  ?" 

"  Well,  look  here ;  here's  the  queerest  announce- 


"  TO  WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON."       287 

ment  in  the  paper  I  have  ever  seen.  And  if  it 
isn't  mixed  up  with  that  William  Smith !  You 
know  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  read  this,"  and  she  handed  him  the  paper. 
"  You  see  it  mentions  Brixham,"  she  said. 

"  Ah,  yes,  that's  'im  right  enough,"  said  the  land- 
lord. 

"  Then  you  may  depend  upon  it  his  wife  and  his 
mother  don't  know  where  he  is.  Whether  that  was 
his  wife  here  with  him " 

"  I  don't  believe  it.  If  you  remember  at  the 
time  we  said  we  didn't  believe  that  they  was  really 
married." 

"  Well,  Jessica  said  so,  and  so  did  Tom,  but  don't 
you  think  servants  often  get  fancying  things  ?  Par- 
ticularly when  they  are  accustomed  to  hotel  life. 
Jessica  said  that  she  had  a  handkerchief  marked 
with  something  that  was  not  N.  S.  He  called  her 
Nellie,  and  they  called  themselves  Smith.  Jessica 
said  that  he  was  wearing  silver  links  that  had  not 
a  W.  nor  an  S.  on  them,  but  some  other  initials ; 
she  didn't  have  a  chance  of  finding  out  what.  She 
thought  one  was  B." 

"  Yes,  so  she  did." 

"  Well,  it  is  very  evident  that  the  poor  things 
don't  know  what  got  him." 

"  Well,  it  looks  like  it,'  said  the  landlord.  "  But 
you  see,  it  is  evident  that  he  wrote  to  her  on  the 
1 7th  of  February,  now,  how  the  dickens  did  he 
manage  that  ?  I  wonder " 

"  Nay,"  said  the  girl,  "  I  suppose  he  got  a  friend 


288  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

to  do  it  for  him.  What  will  you  do  about  it, 
Dad?" 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  don't  see  that  I  can  do  any- 
thing about  it." 

"  But  won't  you  write  ?" 

"  Well,  what  is  the  good  of  writing  ?  The  feller 
was  a  swell,  there's  no  doubt  about  that ;  but  then 
there's  plenty  of  swells  that  have  uncommonly 
shady  records.  He  has  never  let  his  wife  and 
his  mother  know  anything  about  what  happened 
last  year ;  I  don't  know  that  we  ought  to  back  on 
him  and  split  After  all,  he  was  a  guest  here  and 
he  paid  up  fair  and  square." 

"  But  think  what  they  must  be  suffering,  Dad." 

"  Well,  perhaps  they'll  suffer  less  if  they  are  kept 
in  ignorance  than  if  they  knew  everything,"  said 
the  landlord,  prosaically.  "  Well,  my  girl,  I  really 
don't  know  what  I  had  better  do.  There  was  some- 
thing that  wasn't  quite  explained  in  that  affair — he 
said  so  at  the  time ;  don't  you  remember,  Minnie, 
just  before  they  went  .he  turned  round  to  me  and 
he  said  in  that  'igh  and  'aughty  way  of  his,  '  I 
know  exactly  what  this  must  look  like,  landlord, 
but  the  least  said  the  soonest  mended,  and  I  have 
got  to  thank  you  very  much  for  your  attentions 
to  us  whilst  we  have  been  staying  in  your  house.' 
I  thought  at  the  time,"  the  landlord  went  on,  "  that 
there  had  been  a  mistake  made,  and  I  have 
thought  so  whenever  the  name  of  Smith  has 
crossed  my  memory  since." 

"  Then,  Dad,"  said  the  girl,  earnestly,  "  all  the 
more  reason  that  you  should  let  his  mother  and  his 


"  TO  WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON."      289 

wire  know  exactly  what  happened  to  him.  If  they 
do  turn  out  to  be  people  of  position,  they  may  be 
able  to  put  everything  straight  yet." 

"  Well,  my  girl,  I  will  do  as  you  like,  but  you 
cannot  undo  what's  been  done ;  nothing  on  earth 
will  ever  undo  what's  'appened  between  last  August 
and  to-day,  so  you  may  put  that  idea  out  of  your 
mind  at  once  for  good  and  all." 

However,  egged  on  by  his  daughter's  persistency 
and  by  the  fact  that  the  announcement  to  William 
Smith  remained  in  the  agony  column,  he  was  not 
in  danger  of  forgetting  his  existence.  After  about 
a  week  had  elapsed,  the  landlord  of  the  King's 
Arms  sat  down  at  his  desk  and  with  labour  indited 
a  letter  to  the  solicitors  in  Old  Jewry  who  managed 
the  most  of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  affairs. 


"  DEAR  SIRS,"  he  began,  "  I  enclose  a  cutting  from  the  Daily 
Telegraph  addressed  to  one  William  Smith,  of  London.  As  your 
names  are  mentioned  at  the  foot  of  the  advertisement  as  being  the 
proper  persons  to  write  to,  I  herewith  write  to  let  you  know  that 
the  said  gentleman,  or  one  of  the  said  name — but  I  believe  it  to 
be  the  same — stayed  at  my  hotel  for  a  few  days  during  the  August 
of  last  year.  A  young  lady  was  with  him  at  the  time  professing 
to  be  his  wife,  but  as  she  left  the  previous  day  to  the  gentleman 
I  cannot  speak  on  that  point.  Any  person  requiring  real  informa- 
tion on  the  subject  of  the  said  William  Smith  can  apply  to  me 
direct  by  letter  or  in  person. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"JOHN  TRIMMINS." 

The  letter  done,  John  Trimmins  went   to   the 
door  and  shouted  for  his  daughter.     "  I  am  here, 
Dad,"  she  cried,  "  I  will  come  in  a  minute."     And 
N       /  25 


290  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

surely  enough  in  a  very  short  time  she  appeared. 
"  What  do  you  want,  Dad  ?" 

"  Well,  I  have  written  this  letter  you  have  been 
jacketting  me  about  for  a  week  past.  Just  come 
and  cast  your  eye  over  it  and  tell  me  if  you  think 
it  will  do." 

Thus  bidden,  the  girl  took  the  letter  and  read  it 
from  beginning  to  end.  "  Why,"  she  said,  "  you 
have  told  them  nothing !" 

"  Them  that  wants  to  'ear  anything  perticular 
can  take  the  trouble  to  come  and  'ear  it  from  me," 
said  John  Trimmins,  sturdily.  "  I  am  going  to  write 
nothing  that  will  incriminate  me  if  I  can  'elp  it. 
John  Trimmins  is  here  and  will  answer  any  ques- 
tions that  is  put  to  'im,  barring  they  are  not  too  im- 
pudent. I  'ave  given  them  a  chance,  and  that  is 
as  much  as  anybody  can  expect  of  me." 

"  Oh,  my  dear  Dad,  it  is  very  good  of  you,  and 
I  am  very  glad  you  have  written.  It  will  do  quite 
well.  You  don't  know  how  much  good  you  may 
do  that  poor  mother  and  wife." 

Accordingly,  the  letter  was  posted,  and  in  due 
time  received  by  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  solicitors. 
The  heads  of  the  firm  conned  over  the  sheet  of 
paper  and  looked  in  one  another's  faces  as  who 
would  say,  "  Here  is  a  clue  at  last !" 

"  We  had  better  let  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  have  a 
wire,"  said  the  senior  partner  to  the  junior. 

"  Yes,  most  decidedly.     Shall  I  see  to  it  ?" 

"  I  think  you  had  better.  The  sooner  she 
knows  that  there  is  a  clue,  the  better  for  her." 

"  Shall  I  wire  contents  of  the  letter?" 


"  TO  WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON."      2$l 

"  No,  I  don't  think  so.  Say  there  is  a  clue  which 
can  only  be  followed  up  personally ;  letter  follow- 
ing. And  send  her  copy  of  this  letter,  and  ask  if 
we  shall  attend  to  it  for  her  or  would  she  prefer  to 
come  herself?" 

Accordingly  a  telegram  and  letter  were  duly 
dispatched  to  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  who  was  still 
detained  in  Geneva.  She  had  been  kept  there 
for  nearly  a  fortnight  by  the  illness  of  the  little 
heir;  and  as  both  mother  and  grandmother  felt 
the  stake  in  the  little  life  was  so  great,  they  had 
delayed  their  journey  home  until  he  was  really 
well  rather  than  run  the  slightest  risk  of  increas- 
ing his  ailment.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  received  the 
letter  with  considerable  interest  and  eagerness,  but 
Margot,  after  scanning  its  contents,  laid  it  down 
with  a  disappointed  expression.  "  I  don't  call  that 
a  clue,"  she  said,  quietly.  "  That  is  from  the  land- 
lord of  the  hotel  that  we  stayed  at  in  Brixham.  I 
knew  at  the  time  they  didn't  think  I  was  Godfrey's 
wife.  You  see,  I  had  one  or  two  handkerchiefs 
marked  M.  D.,  and  I  saw  the  chambermaid  look 
at  one.  They  are  so  quick,  these  people,  they 
notice  everything.  They  can  only  tell  you  that 
we  stayed  there  for  a  few  days,  and  that  I  left 
the  day  before  he  did.  They  have  told  you  that 
already." 

''My  dear,  I  think  we  had  better  follow  it. 
This  man  implies  that  he  has  something  else  to 
tell." 

"  Ah,  he  wants  to  get  us  to  go  and  stay  a  few 
days  again,"  said  Margot.  "At  all  events,  dear 


292  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

Mother," — she  had  long  ago  begun  to  call  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  by  the  tender  and  homely  name,— 
"  I  wouldn't  rush  there,  and  don't  let  your  hopes 
dwell  too  much  upon  it.  I  am  sure  it  is  no  real 
clue  and  will  tell  us  nothing  definite  about  God- 
frey. How  should  they  know  any  better  than  I  ? 
And,  really,  Baby  isn't  fit  to  take  such  a  long  jour- 
ney yet." 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  will  write  to  Woods  and  tell 
them  to  acknowledge  the  letter,  and  say  that  I  will 
go  and  see  Mr.  Trimmins  on  my  return  to  Eng- 
land. That  will  be  the  best  way.  I  can  then 
leave  it  open,  and  we  can  take  an  opportunity, 
when  dear  Baby  is  very  well  again,  to  make  the 
journey  home." 

"  Dear  Baby,"  however,  continued  to  show  con- 
siderable signs  of  delicacy — well,  that  is  to  say,  he 
was  troubled  with  one  childish  ailment  after  an- 
other, infantile  troubles  that  would  not  have  seemed 
like  troubles  in  an  ordinary  house  or  to  an  every- 
day family,  but  which  to  such  an  inexperienced 
mother  as  Margot,  and  to  such  an  anxious  grand- 
mother as  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  took  upon  them- 
selves the  importance  of  serious  and  dangerous 
illnesses. 

But  in  the  beginning  of  August  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook and  Margot  were  able  to  return  to  England 
and  to  make  their  way  towards  Brixham.  For 
one  thing,  Margot  was  glad  that  they  had  been 
detained  so  long,  because  she  knew  Mrs.  Blake 
would  not  be  visible  in  Brixham  in  August,  and 
she  felt  neither  strong  enough  nor  brave  enough  to 


"  TO   WILLIAM  SMITH,  OF  LONDON."      293 

face  the  torrent  of  reproaches  which  she  knew 
would  be  hers  when  she  and  that  lady  did  happen 
to  come  together.  Nancy  and  the  nurse  travelled 
in  charge  of  the  precious  baby,  putting  up  at  the 
Mitre,  at  Marley  Spa,  the  hotel  where  Godfrey  was 
supposed  to  have  stayed  during  the  August  of  the 
previous  year.  From  this  house  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
and  Margot  went  over  to  Brixham,  going  direct  to 
the  King's  Arms  Hotel,  there  to  interview  its  pro- 
prietor, Mr.  John  Trimmins. 

Miss  Trimmins  peeped  out  of  the  bar  as  the  two 
ladies  came  into  the  hall,  and  seeing  by  the  man- 
ner of  the  elder  one  that  they  were  somebody  of 
unusual  importance,  she  came  out  of  the  little 
glazed  hutch  and  advanced  to  meet  them.  "  I 
have  a  letter  here,"  began  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
"  written  by  Mr.  John  Trimmins  to  my  solicitors 
in  London." 

"  Oh,"  said  Miss  Trimmins,  "  about  Mr.  William 
Smith  ?" 

"  Yes,  about  Mr.  William  Smith,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook, feeling  as  if  she  were  telling  a  lie. 

"  Will  you  come  this  way  ?"  said  Miss  Trimmins. 
"  If  you  will  come  into  my  father's  private  sitting- 
room,  I  will  fetch  him  to  you.  He  is  not  in  the 
house,  but  he  is  close  at  hand."  Then  her  eyes 
wandered  from  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's  face  to  that 
of  her  companion,  and  she  recognized  with  a  start 
that  this  was  the  young  lady  who  had  been  their 
guest  a  year  previously.  "  Good-morning,  Mrs. 
Smith,"  she  said,  pleasantly. 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Margot. 
25* 


294  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

"  I  hope  you  are  quite  well,"  said  Miss  Trim- 
mins. 

"  Quite  well,  thank  you,  said  Margot.  "  I  need 
hardly  ask  you  the  same  question ;  you  look 
extremely  well." 

"  Yes,  thank  you,  I  am  quite  well,"  said  Miss 
Trimmins.  "  This  way."  She  opened  the  door  of 
the  little  private  room  and  ushered  the  two  ladies 
into  it.  "  Shall  I  say  Mrs.  William  Smith  ?"  said 
she,  half  hesitatingly. 

"  This  is  my  mother-in-law,"  said  Margot,  feeling 
that  the  silence  was  awkward. 

"  Oh,  really.  Then  I  will  say  Mrs.  Smith  and 
Mrs.  William  Smith  ?" 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  stiffening 
all  over  with  indomitable  pride.  As  the  door 
closed  behind  Miss  Trimmins,  she  turned  sharply 
to  Margot.  "  My  dear  child,  don't  you  think  I 
had  better  tell  these  people  what  our  name  is?  It 
is  dreadful  to  be  going  about  as  Smith." 

"  Well,  yes,  dear ;  but  don't  you  think  we  had 
better  hear  all  they  have  got  to  tell  first  ?  Because 
if  they  don't  know  much — only  that  we  stayed  here 
last  year — they  might  as  well  not  know  that  we  are 
Bladensbrooks  at  all." 

"  Yes,  you  are  quite  right." 

A  few  minutes  later  the  door  opened  and  the 
landlord  of  the  hotel  walked  into  the  room. 


A    TERRIBLE  SHOCK.  2$$ 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

A  TERRIBLE   SHOCK. 

" GOOD-MORNING,  ladies!"  he  said.  "I  'ope  I 
see  you  well." 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  with 
gracious  dignity. 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Margot,  in  her  soft  voice. 

"  You  wrote  me  a  letter — at  least,  you  wrote  a 
letter  to  my  solicitors,"  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  began. 

"  I  did,  Ma'am,  yes,  I  did.  You  see,  I  'appened 
to  see  an  advertisement  in  the  paper— at  least,  my 
daughter  did — about  a  young  gentleman  that  stayed 
here  last  August,  the  young  gentleman  that  this 
young  lady  was  good  lady  to,  if  I  mistake  not  ?" 

"  You  are  quite  right,"  said  Margot. 

"  You  can  give  me  some  information  about  this 
Mr.  William  Smith  ?" 

"  I  can  tell  you  what  'appened  'ere  after  the 
young  lady  left,"  said  the  landlord,  sticking  his 
thumb  into  his  armhole  and  looking  steadily  at 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  began  to  feel  that  after  all 
the  man  did  know  something.  She  immediately 
sat  down  and  rested  her  elbow  and  hand  on  the 
table.  "  Mr.  Trimmins,"  she  said,  "  I  may  as  well 
tell  you  that  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  of  my  son 
since  the  iQth  of  last  August." 


296  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

"  That  was  the  day  on  which  it  took  place,"  said 
John  Trimmins. 

"  The  day  on  which  what  took  place  ?" 

"  On  which  he  left  this  house,"  said  the  landlord. 

"  Well,  you  will  understand  that  I  am  exceed- 
ingly anxious,  and  my  daughter-in-law  likewise,  to 
know  where  Mr.  William  Smith  is." 

"  It  wasn't  'is  right  name  to  begin  with,"  said 
John  Trimmins,  deliberately. 

"  That  is  rather  beside  the  question.  It  was  the 
name  under  which  you  knew  him." 

"  But  it  wasn't  'is  right  name  for  all  that,"  said 
the  landlord,  calmly.  "  I  said  to  my  daughter  at 
the  time,  and  I  said  to  her  the  other  day  when  I 
wrote  to  your  lawyers,  that  Mr.  William  Smith  was 
no  common  man — he  was  a  gentleman,  and  I  'ave 
never  rightly  settled  in  my  mind  that  what  'appened 
'ere  on  the  iQth  of  last  August  came  out  right  side 
uppermost." 

"  But  what  did  happen  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
She  spoke  with  great  patience,  for  she  saw  that  the 
landlord  was  a  garrulous  person  and  must  practi- 
cally be  left  to  tell  his  story  in  his  own  way. 

"  Well,  Ma'am,  the  young  lady  left  on  Saturday 
morning  and  the  young  gentleman  stayed  the  Sat- 
urday night  'ere  by  'isself.  On  the  Saturday  night 
there  was  a  bit  of  a  rumpus — I  cannot  say  quite 
what  it  was,  for  I  wasn't  present  at  the  time — but 
there  was  a  feller  staying  in  the  house  that  got  a 
bit  impudent  or  something,  and  your  son  put  'im 
out  Well,  I  spoke  to  'im  about  it,  and  when  he 
explained  'ow  things  'ad  been,  I  thanked  'im  for 


A    TERRIBLE  SHOCK.  297 

'aving  taken  a  'igh  'and  in  the  matter,  for  I  'ave  no 
fancy  for  my  'ouse  being  known  for  anything  dis- 
reputable. Well,  the  next  day,  just  when  Mr. 
William  Smith  was  leaving — he  'ad  paid  'is  bill  and 
all — he  was  arrested." 

"  What !"  cried  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  It  is  the  plain  truth,  Ma'am.    He  was  arrested." 

"  And  for  what  ?" 

"  He  was  arrested  for  theft." 

"  My  son !" 

"  Mr.  William  Smith,  that  was  the  'usband  of 
this  young  lady,  he  was  arrested  for  theft.  He 
was  charged  by  a  visitor  staying  in  the  house  with 
having  stolen  various  articles  of  jewellery  and 
some  money.  He  offered  to  'ave  'is  things  searched 
— well,  of  course,  that  made  no  difference,  because 
the  police  were  there  and  they  would  'ave  searched 
the  boxes  of  a  suspected  party  in  any  case,  and  the 
things  was  all  found  in  'is  portmanteau  in  my  en- 
trance 'all,  packed  ready  to  go  to  the  station.  He 
was  arrested ;  he  asked  for  ten  minutes  alone  with 
me  and  the  police  knew  me,  and  I  said  that  it 
would  be  all  right,  and  they  allowed  'im  to  'ave  it. 
I  was  ten  minutes  alone  in  this  room  with  'im.  He 
wrote  a  letter  which  'e  asked  me  to  post  without 
looking  at  the  address,  and  I  did  so.  I  conclude  it 
was  the  letter  that  was  mentioned  in  the  advertise- 
ment as  having  a  Brixham  post-mark.  But  I  was 
true  to  my  word,  and  I  never  looked  at  the  direc- 
tion at  all.  And  then  'e  got  up  and  'e  said  in  'is 
'igh  and  'aughty  way,  '  Now  look  here,  landlord, 
you  quite  understand  that  there  has  been  a  mistake 


298  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

here.  I  don't  know  yet  what  I  shall  do,  but  I  shall 
thank  you  to  speak  of  this  to  nobody.'  He  was 
committed  for  trial ;  he  was  tried  at  the  county 
town  assizes,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  'ighteen 
months'  hard  labour." 

"  And  you  mean  to  tell  me,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,  staring  at  the  landlord  with  a  white  set  face, 
"  that  my  son  is  in  prison  ?" 

"  Your  son,  Ma'am,  is  in  prison  at  this  moment, 
if  so  be  that  he  is  alive.  I  can't  say  what  prison, 
but  that  would  be  easy  enough  to  find  out  from  the 
officials  at  Chalkley." 

"  But,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  holding  hard  on 
to  the  table,  and  still  fixing  the  landlord  with  a 
haggard  gaze,  "  the  whole  thing  is  absurd.  My 
son  !  Why,  it  is  preposterous  !  My  son  has  thirty 
thousand  a  year.  Did  he  explain  nothing  ?  Were 
you  at  the  trial  ?" 

"  I  was,  and  he  said  nothing." 

"  He  didn't  explain  his  position  ?  What  defence 
did  he  make  ?" 

"  Well,  Ma'am,  practically  'e  made  no  defence. 
'E  explained  nothing  about  matters  except  that  he 
was  William  Smith,  of  London." 

"  He  quietly  accepted  the  situation  ?" 

"  Well,  practically,  Ma'am,  that  was  what  'e  did. 
As  to  'is  'aving  thirty  thousand  a  year  or  being  in 
any  way  well  off,  he  never  breathed  it.  If  'e  'ad  it 
might  have  put  a  different  complexion  on  the  whole 
case,  but  'e  shut  'is  mouth  like  a  steel  gin  and  he 
said  nothing  at  all.  They  couldn't  drag  a  word 
out  of  'im.  And  when  the  jedge  giv  'im  'is  sen- 


A    TERRIBLE  SHOCK.  299 

tence,  'e  just  made  'im  a  little  bow  and  'e  turned 
round  and  walked  out  of  the  dock  without  a  word. 
I  knew  there  was  something  wrong.  I  came  'ome 
and  I  said  to  Minnie,  my  daughter,  '  That  young 
feller  never  stole  them  diamonds,  them  studs,  you 
know.'  '  Well,  Dad,'  said  she,  '  what  were  they 
doing  in  'is  box  ?'  '  I  don't  believe,'  said  I,  '  that 
'e  put  'em  there.'  '  Well,  then,'  said  she,  *  who 
could  or  did,  and  why  ?'  And  there  was  reason  in 
it,  and  it  was  no  business  of  mine,  and  if  I  'ad  made 
it  ever  so  much  business  of  mine,  I  couldn't  'ave 
done  anything,  I  was  as  'elpless  as  the  new-born 
babe.  So  I  wondered  a  bit  and  I  thought  a  bit 
more  until  the  matter  dropped,  and  then  I  see  your 
advertisement." 

"  There  has  been  some  horrible  mistake,"  said 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  In  her  horror  at  the  news  of 
Godfrey  which  had  so  unexpectedly  come  to  her, 
she  forgot  even  to  feel  a  thrill,  a  tiny  thrill  of  in- 
dignation, to  hear  this  common  man  speak  of 
him  as  a  "young  feller."  For  a  few  minutes 
none  of  the  three  broke  the  silence.  The  landlord, 
with  his  thumb  still  stuck  in  his  armhole  and  his 
other  hand  thrust  deep  into  his  trouser  pocket, 
stood  gazing  at  Mrs.  Bladensbrook.  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook sat  gripping  the  edge  of  the  table  and  star- 
ing at  the  landlord's  rubicund  face  as  if  she  would 
fain  gather  more  from  there  than  he  had  already 
told  her,  then  Margot  created  a  diversion  by  slip- 
ping to  the  floor  in  a  dead  faint. 

By  dint  of  cold  water,  brandy,  a  fan,  and  the 
strongest  of  smelling  salts,  the  landlord  and  Mrs. 


300  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN, 

Bladensbrook  succeeded  between  them  in  bringing 
Margot  back  to  her  senses.  "  Come,  come,  my 
dear,"  said  the  older  woman,  "  it  has  been  an  awful 
shock  to  you ;  I  know  by  what  I  feel  myself;  but 
we  mustn't  give  way,  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be 
done.  We  have  to  discover  the  true  thief,  to  estab- 
lish Godfrey's  innocence  and  to  get  him  out  of  the 
place  where  he  is  now.  We  must  not  give  way." 

"  No,"  said  Margot,  "  I  won't  give  way  any 
more."  But  she  closed  her  eyes,  and  but  for  a 
vigorous  application  of  the  salts  would  probably 
have  slipped  quietly  off  again.  "  No,  I  won't  give 
way,"  she  said,  "  I  won't,  really.  But  it  was  such 
a  shock,  such  a  revelation.  Whatever  will  Aunt 
Marcia  say  if  she  finds  out  ?" 

"  Oh,  it  doesn't  matter  what  she  says,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  contemptuously.  "  You  and  I  have 
got  sterner  work  to  do  than  to  worry  about  Aunt 
Marcia.  Now,  Mr.  Trimmins,"  she  added,  having 
straightened  Margot's  hair  and  set  her  hat  at  its 
proper  angle  once  more,  "  I  have  to  thank  you  very 
very  much  for  all  your  kindness  to  me.  Later 
on — that  is  to  say  in  a  few  days — I  will  send  your 
daughter  a  little  present  to  remember  us  by,  and 
if  I  succeed  in  getting  my  son  cleared  of  this  ridic- 
ulous charge,  I  shall  ask  you  to  accept  something 
much  more  substantial  than  what  I  shall  send  now. 
You  have  been  exceedingly  kind  to  me,  and  I  thank 
you  with  all  my  heart." 

"  Well,  I  am  sure,  Ma'am,"  said  John  Trimmins, 
"  I  liked  the  gentleman  and  I  liked  the  young  lady, 
and  it's  dreadful  to  think  of  your  having  been 


A    TERRIBLE   SHOCK.  30! 

all  this  time  in  anxiety  and  trouble  about  'im.  'E 
didn't  look  like  anything  of  that  kind,  and  I  don't 
see — as  long  as  'e  was  right  in  'is  'ead — why  'e 
should  'ave  done  it  or  be  blamed  for  doing  it,  or 
why  anybody  should  try  to  put  such  a  suspicion 
upon  'im,  I  really  don't.  It  is  a  mystery." 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  mystery,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"  But  you  know,  Mr.  Trimmins,  there  is  no  mystery 
so  deep  but  what  some  way  can  be  found  to  unravel 
it  There  is  no  mystery  so  mysterious  but  what 
there  is  some  little  thread  which  will  make  every- 
thing as  clear  as  the  light  of  day.  If  you  knew 
my  son  as  I  know  him,  you  would  understand 
that  it  is  quite  an  impossible  thing  that  he  should 
have  taken  those  jewels ;  and  I  confess  it  seems  im- 
possible that  anybody  could  be  found  in  the  world 
so  malicious  as  to  try  to  fasten  such  a  dastardly 
crime  upon  him.  Murder  will  out,  Mr.  Trimmins, 
and,  although  this  is  not  murder,  I  feel  perfectly 
sure  that  in  this  instance  crime  will  out  likewise." 

"  Well,  Ma'am,  I  'ope  so  with  all  my  'eart,"  said 
Mr.  Trimmins,  in  his  cheery,  honest  tones. 

And  then  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  with  the  most  un- 
usual graciousness  for  her  put  out  her  hand  and 
laid  it  in  that  of  the  rubicund  Boniface  with  an  air 
as  if  she  were  a  sovereign  bestowing  the  highest 
honour  upon  the  humblest  of  her  subjects.  The 
landlord  was  duly  impressed.  "  My,"  said  he  to 
his  daughter  later  on,  "  but  that  is  a  grand  lady,  and 
no  mistake  about  it !  Lor'  in  my  own  house  she 
made  me  feel  that  small  and  that  'umble  I  could 
scarcely  believe  it  was  myself  standing  there !" 


3<D2  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

Meantime,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  Margot  were 
driving  back  to  the  station.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
had  but  scant  mercy  upon  Margot's  physical  deli- 
cacy. She  was  sorry  that  she  had  fainted,  but  she 
thought  it  distinctly  weak  of  her  to  do  so  at  such 
a  juncture.  "  Now,  my  dear,"  she  said,  as  soon  as 
they  had  driven  well  away  from  the  hotel,  "  you 
must  not  allow  yourself  to  give  way.  You  and  I 
have  to  go  straight  from  here  to  Chalkley ;  we  have 
to  find  out  where  Godfrey  is  ;  we  must  get  an  order 
to  visit  him ;  we  shall  not  get  at  anything  like  the 
truth  until  we  have  seen  him." 

"  But  to  see  Godfrey  in  prison  !  Oh,  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook !  With  his  head  cropped  and  the  broad 
arrow  stuck  all  over  him — Oh,  Mother,  Mother,  I 
shall  never  get  over  it !" 

"  Oh,  yes,  my  dear,  you  will ;  you  will  get  over  it 
quite  well.  If  Godfrey  were  justly  in  such  a  place, 
you  never  would  be  able  to  get  over  it;  there 
would  be  no  getting  over  such  a  situation  on  this 
side  of  the  grave ;  but  this  is  a  mere  bagatelle,  an 
accident,  a  chance,  a  contretemps.  You  and  I  are 
as  sure  of  Godfrey's  innocence  as  we  are  of  our 
own,  so  that  it  need  not  trouble  us  for  a  moment, 
beyond  feeling  vexation  at  the  discomfort  through 
which  he  has  gone." 

The  lady  was  as  good  as  her  word.  She  whisked 
Margot  into  the  train — which  they  just  caught — 
she  whisked  her  out  at  the  other  end  when  they 
reached  the  county  town  of  Chalkley.  "  Now,  my 
dear,"  she  said,  "  do  you  think  we  had  better  have 
a  cup  of  tea  before  we  go  up  to  the  gaol  ?" 


A    TERRIBLE  SHOCK.  303 

Margot's  wan  looks  decided  the  question,  and 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  carried  her  off  into  the  little 
refreshment  room,  where  she  administered  to  her 
very  much  after  the  manner  of  a  nurse  adminis- 
tering medicine  to  an  unwilling  child.  Then  she 
found  a  cab  and  they  went  up  to  the  gaol  to- 
gether. Of  course  there  was  a  difficulty — there 
is  always  a  difficulty  in  surmounting  any  situa- 
tion which  is  tinged  with  officialism.  First  of  all, 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  told  that  she  could  not 
possibly  see  the  Governor;  it  was  not  hours  to 
see  the  Governor;  he  was  probably  not  in  his 
house,  and  he  was  sure  to  be  engaged  if  he  did 
happen  to  be  at  home.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was, 
however,  not  a  person  who  allowed  herself  to  be 
put  out  of  her  way  by  trifles  or  petty  obstacles. 
She  did  not  on  this  account  disdain  the  use  of 
a  silver  key,  and  she  carried  her  point  sufficiently 
to  drive  in  under  the  great  gates  and  up  to  the 
house  which  was  pointed  out  as  the  Governor's. 
The  Governor's  parlour-maid,  being  a  person  less 
open  to  suspicion  than  the  gate  porter,  did  not 
refuse  her  admittance  or  question  her  right  of 
entry,  and  presently  the  Governor  of  the  gaol,  a 
tall,  middle-aged  man  of  military  appearance,  came 
to  her,  asking  her  what  he  could  have  the  pleas- 
ure of  doing  for  her.  She  saw  that  he  recognized 
her  quality  at  a  glance,  and  to  him  she  unfolded 
her  tale,  not,  however,  divulging  her  own  name. 
"A  young  man  was  sentenced  at  the  Chalkley 
Assizes  last  September  to  eighteen  months'  im- 
prisonment for  stealing  jewellery  and  other  effects 


304  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

at  an  hotel  at  Brixham,"  she  said.  "  I  have  only 
just  discovered  the  facts  of  the  case.  That  young 
man  is  my  son.  I  am  perfectly  convinced  that 
there  is  a  mystery  which  can  be  unravelled  and 
explained.  It  is  preposterous  and  absurd  to  think 
that  he  should  have  soiled  his  hands  for  a  mo- 
ment with  such  a  deed.  He  is  very  rich,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  alleged  robbery  he  had  been  mar- 
ried three  days.  I  want  you  to  tell  me  where  he 
is  and  advise  me  how  I  may  best  have  an  inter- 
view with  him,  also  to  tell  me  whether  I  can  have 
an  absolutely  private  interview  ?" 

"  Without  any  witnesses  ?"  said  the  Governor. 

"Yes." 

"  That,  of  course,  is  impossible  except  by  breach 
of  custom.  What  was  your  son's  name  ?" 

"  He  is  called  William  Smith." 

"Oh,  Smith?" 

"  Yes." 

"  I  confess  I  always  had  my  doubts  about  his 
case." 

"  You  had  ?     Why  ?" 

"  Why,  because  he  is  a  gentleman  and  he  looks 
honest.  The  governor  of  a  gaol  usually  knows  the 
true  character  of  every  person  under  his  charge." 

"  And  is  my  son  here  now  ?" 

"  Yes.  Men  under  sentences  no  longer  than  his 
are  not  taken  to  the  great  penal  establishments, 
but  work  out  their  time  in  the  county  gaols  where 
they  have  been  sentenced.  I  could  let  you  see 
your  son,  certainly,  but  not  alone.  If  you  will 
come  this  way,  you  shall  see  him  in  five  minutes," 


A    TERRIBLE   SHOCK.  305 

"  Oh,  you  are  very  good,"  replied  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook. 

"  Not  at  all,  not  at  all.  I  would  do  more  than 
that  for  a  well-behaved  prisoner,  to  say  nothing  of 
being  willing  to  oblige  a  mother,  more  especially 
when  she  happens  to  be  a  woman  of  your  evident 
standing.  And  this  young  lady  ?"  with  a  gesture 
towards  Margot. 

"  Is  my  son's  wife." 

"  Oh,  really !  Well,  come  this  way.  You  shall 
see  him." 

They  were  led  down  several  long  passages 
through  heavily-barred  doors  and  gateways,  and 
then  they  were  shown  into  a  small  room  divided  in 
the  middle  by  a  double  trellis-work  of  iron.  There 
the  Governor  left  them.  In  less  than  five  minutes 
the  door  of  the  other  compartment  to  that  in  which 
they  stood  was  flung  open  and  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook,  cropped  as  to  the  head  and  clad  in  hideous 
prison  garments,  walked  into  the  room.  A  turnkey 
immediately  appeared  in  the  division  between  the 
two  barriers  of  trellis-work.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
ran  close  up  to  the  barrier  and  said  in  a  palpitating 
voice — "  Godfrey !" 

He  cast  one  glance  at  her,  then  turned  sharply 
to  the  warder.  "  This  lady,"  he  said,  "  has  made 
a  mistake.  I  don't  know  her." 

"  Godfrey  !"  cried  Margot. 

But  Godfrey  never  turned.  "  I  don't  know  these 
ladies,"  he  said,  in  a  deliberate  voice.  "  They  are 
making  a  mistake.  I  am  not  the  person  they  seek." 


26* 


300  A  MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 

CAUGHT    RED-HANDED. 

WHEN  the  door  had  closed  behind  Godfrey 
Bladensbrook,  and  the  turnkey  had  disappeared 
from  the  gangway  between  the  two  compartments 
of  the  room,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  Margot  turned 
and  looked  at  one  another.  Margot  was  trembling 
violently  from  head  to  foot,  her  face  white,  drawn, 
and  quivering,  her  eyes  staring  as  if  they  would 
start  out  of  their  sockets.  This  phase  did  not, 
however,  last  for  more  than  a  few  seconds.  With 
a  cry  she  sprang  to  her  mother-in-law  and  hid  her 
face  upon  her  breast,  but  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  never 
lost  her  presence  of  mind  for  a  single  instant.  She 
soothed  the  girl  very  tenderly ;  but  at  the  same  time 
whispered  words  bidding  her  bear  up  and  not  show 
the  state  of  agitation  she  was  in.  "  Come,  come," 
she  said,  "  you  must  dry  your  eyes ;  you  must  pull 
down  your  veil  and  go  out  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened, as  if  we  had  made  a  mistake.  Godfrey  has 
a  good  reason ;  he  looked  right  into  my  eyes,  and  I 
saw  nothing  there  to  be  ashamed  of.  He  knows 
what  he  is  doing ;  he  is  doing  it  for  the  best.  We 
must  fall  in  with  his  evident  desires.  Come,  my 
dear,  it  is  only  a  few  months  more  and  then  every- 
thing will  be  explained  to  us.  I  shall  tell  the 
Governor  that  his  prisoner  is  quite  right  and  we 
have  made  a  mistake." 


CAUGHT  RED-HANDED.  307 

"  But  it  is  Godfrey,"  said  Margot,  with  a  wail  of 
despair. 

"  Yes,  my  dear,  of  course  it  is  Godfrey ;  but 
Godfrey  wishes  us  not  to  reveal  his  name  and 
identity.  He  is  here  as  William  Smith,  and  de- 
pend upon  it  he  has  a  good  reason  for  what  he  is 
doing.  You  and  I  must  not  be  the  ones  to  betray 
him.  Come,  brace  yourself  up ;  nerve  yourself; 
shake  yourself  together,  Margot.  Your  husband's 
whole  future  depends  upon  it." 

By  the  dint  of  alternate  warnings  and  coaxings 
she  succeeded  in  so  bracing  Margot  to  action  that 
she  dried  her  eyes,  drew  down  her  veil,  and  straight- 
ened herself  generally.  "I  am  quite  ready,  if  you 
don't  expect  me  to  talk,"  she  said.  "  I — I — cannot 
talk  And  I  can't  help  shaking." 

"  Leave  it  all  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"  Don't  utter  a  word.  I  will  tell  the  Governor  that 
you  are  naturally  very  much  upset  and  to  a  certain 
extent  relieved  to  find  that  your  husband  is  not 
here.  It  isn't  true ;  but  still  Godfrey  must  have  a 
good  reason Hush  !  Here  is  the  warder." 

"The  other  warder  tells  me,  Madam,  that  the 
prisoner  says  you  have  made  a  mistake  ?" 

"  That  is  quite  true,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, 
speaking  with  the  utmost  dignity  and  gracious- 
ness.  "  I  was,  of  course,  deceived  by  the  similarity 
of  name.  I  am  sorry  to  have  given  you  so  much 
trouble.  Perhaps  you  will  present  my  compliments 
to  the  Governor,  and  thank  him  for  allowing  me  to 
satisfy  myself?"  She  pressed  a  handsome  douceur 
into  his  hand  and  sailed  out  into  the  dreary  corridor 


308  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

again,  drawing  Margot  with  her  by  the  hand. 
"  Come,  my  dear  child,"  she  said  to  her,  "  we  will 
get  out  of  this  dreadful  place.  You  know,"  speak- 
ing very  graciously  to  the  warder,  "  it  is  a  dreadful 
place  to  us.  We  are  not  used  to  prisons.  My 
daughter-in-law  is  a  little  overcome  by  this  inter- 
view and  the  shock  of  it  all.  You  will  make  my 
apologies  to  the  Governor,  will  you  not  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  Madam ;  in  fact,  I  think  the  Governor 
has  gone  out." 

"  Thank  you  so  much,"  and  she  half  lifted,  half 
hurried  Margot  into  the  cab,  and  told  the  warder 
to  tell  the  cabman  to  drive  back  to  the  station. 
Not  until  they  were  once  more  safely  in  the  train 
did  Margot  speak  again — I  should  say  speak  again 
on  the  subject  which  was  lying  so  near  to  both  of 
their  hearts.  "  Oh,  dear  Mother,  what  can  this 
mystery  be  ?  It  was  Godfrey — Godfrey,  that  ob- 
ject, degraded,  shamed  like  that,  with  his  head — 
ugh  !  horrid — horrid — and  those  dreadful  clothes 
on." 

"  My  dear  child,  what  do  clothes  matter  ?  And 
as  for  his  head,  the  hair  will  grow  again  in  a  few 
weeks.  As  for  the  shame  and  the  degradation — 
well,  I  cannot  make  it  out ;  but  Godfrey  never  stole 
— oh,  it  is  too  ridiculous.  It  is  absurd  for  you  and 
me  to  discuss  it,  to  question  it,  to  trouble  ourselves 
about  it.  There  has  been  a  mistake,  and  Godfrey 
has  his  reasons  for  what  he  is  doing — urgent 
reasons ;  that  goes  without  saying." 

"  What  are  we  to  do  now  ?"  Margot  asked. 

"  My  dear  child,  there  is  nothing  for  us  to  do 


CAUGHT  RED-HANDED.  309 

but  to  go  back  to  Marley  Spa,  eat  our  dinner, 
spend  the  night,  and  get  home  to  Bladensbrook  as 
quickly  as  we  reasonably  can  do.  We  are  better 
there ;  the  place  must  be  looking  lovely.  We  are 
satisfied  as  to  where  Godfrey  is,  and  we  must  make 
up  our  minds  to  wait  his  time ;  we  can  wait  better 
in  Bladensbrook  than  anywhere  else ;  besides  that, 
it  would  be  so  good  for  the  child ;  among  our  own 
people,  with  every  possible  plans  for  his  comfort 
and  well-being,  he  will  thrive  there  as  he  would 
do  nowhere  in  hotels." 

"  And  I — we  shall  not  know  till  next  March," 
said  Margot,  with  a  pitiful  sigh. 

"  My  dear,  anything  may  happen  between  this 
and  next  March ;  it  is  a  long  time  to  wait.  One 
never  knows  what  a  day  may  bring  forth,  nor  how 
soon  this  mystery  may  be  elucidated.  At  all 
events,  to  me  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  God- 
frey is  alive  and  in  good  health  has  outweighed 
everything  for  the  moment;  for  the  rest,  I  trust 
him  as  absolutely  as  I  have  trusted  him  all  his  life, 
and  I  am  quite  content  to  wait  his  time  for  being 
able  to  tell  me  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  the 
whole  extraordinary  incident.  Of  course,  now 
that  your  marriage  and  Baby's  birth  have  been 
announced,  there  need  be  no  hesitation  about  our 
going  back  to  Bladensbrook." 

"  It  will  be  very  dreadful,"  said  Margot. 

"Oh,  yes,  my  dear;  there  are  many  dreadful 
things  in  this  life  through  which  we  must  go  cheer- 
fully and  uncomplainingly,  showing  only  a  brave 
front  to  the  world ;  that  is  our  portion.  Now,  I 


3IO  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

wish  for  your  sake  that  you  were  going  back  to 
your  husband  and  to  take  your  own  place ;  but 
you  young  people  acted  for  the  best,  or  as  you 
thought  was  for  the  best,  and  it  is  no  use  now  re- 
pining or  looking  back  over  what  is  unalterable." 

But  nevertheless  to  Margot  the  home-coming  to 
Bladensbrook  was  wholly  and  entirely  painful.  If 
it  had  been  to  a  strange  place,  to  the  home  of  her 
husband  which  she  had  never  seen,  she  fancied  she 
would  not  have  felt  it  half  so  deeply,  but  to  go 
where  every  villager  knew  her,  knew  a  part  at 
least  of  the  strange  story,  where  people  were  still 
conjecturing  as  to  where  Godfrey  Bladensbrook, 
the  squire,  could  possibly  be,  and  why  he  was 
keeping  so  persistently  out  of  sight,  to  go  back  to 
meet  the  man  who  had  proposed  to  her,  to  meet  all 
the  people  who  had  known  her  all  her  life  and 
who  many  of  them  looked  as  if  they  believed  that 
Godfrey  had  kept  out  of  sight  through  some  dis- 
satisfaction with  her,  it  was  a  dreadful  trial.  But 
Mrs.  Bladensbrook  was  indomitable.  She  went 
home  speaking  of  "  my  daughter-in-law"  and  of 
"  my  grandson"  as  if  they  were  accepted  facts  of 
years'  standing,  and  at  last,  when  somebody  ven- 
tured to  ask  her  very  diffidently  whether  they  had 
any  news  of  Godfrey,  she  answered  in  the  most 
airy  manner,  "  Oh,  dear,  yes !  My  son  will  be 
home  very  shortly."  But  somehow  nobody  liked 
to  ask  any  further  questions,  and  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Bladensbrook  was  more  mystified  than 
ever.  To  nobody  but  the  Rector  did  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook vouchsafe  anything  like  an  explanation. 


CA  UGHT  RED-HANDED.  3 1 1 

"  My  dear  Rector,"  she  said,  when  he  gave  vent  to 
a  similar  enquiry,  "  I  really  can  tell  you  very  little. 
Margot  is  Godfrey's  wife,  and  Godfrey  has  been 
engaged  in  some  most  important  and  intricate 
business.  I  can  explain  nothing  of  it  to  you  ;  but 
he  will  be  home  in  the  spring,  and  then  you  will 
hear  what  he  says  himself." 

At  this  time  Margot's  nurse  left  them  and  was 
replaced  by  a  very  dignified  personage  who  took 
up  her  abode  at  Bladensbrook  on  a  more  perma- 
nent basis  than  anyone  belonging  to  an  institution 
was  capable  of  doing.  From  the  very  first  the  air 
of  Bladensbrook  seemed  to  suit  the  little  heir ;  he 
grew  and  throve  like  a  young  plant,  doing  much 
to  fill  up  that  great  empty  space  in  Margot's  heart, 
and  to  make  his  grandmother  content  to  wait  until 
blustering  March  should  bring  back  her  son  to 
give  what  explanation  he  would  of  the  strange 
events  of  the  past  eighteen  months.  They  were 
not  so  cut  off  from  the  world  as  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook had  been  during  the  first  six  months  of 
Godfrey's  absence.  She  conceived  it  to  be  her 
duty  to  go  back  to  her  ordinary  life,  and  she 
visited  in  a  stately  fashion  among  her  neighbours, 
giving  dinner-parties  now  and  again,  and  became 
quite  her  own  vigorous  queenly  self. 

It  was  during  this  time  that  the  head-keeper  at 
Bladensbrook  came  up  to  the  house  one  morning 
and  asked  to  see  the  mistress.  He  was  shown 
into  the  study,  which  was  a  little  room  where  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  invariably  conducted  all  business 
connected  with  the  estate,  and  there  Mrs.  Bladens- 


312  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

brook  joined  him.  "  Well,  Walters,"  she  said, 
"what  is  it?" 

"  Excuse  me,  Madam,"  said  Walters,  making  his 
obeisance  and  standing  up,  looking  very  straight 
and  tall  in.  his  picturesque  brown  velveteen  gar- 
ments, "  but  I  happen  to  have  found  out  that  I 
was  right  in  my  suspicions  about  young  Daniels." 

"  Oh,  is  that  so  ?" 

"  Yes,  Madam,  that  is  so.  I  have  got  the  best 
of  evidence  agen  him,  and  I  think  we  shall  nab 
my  gentleman  red-handed  to-night." 

"  I  scarcely  believe  it,  Walters,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook,  in  her  calm,  equable  tones. 

"  Well,  Madam,  that  is  as  time  and  chance  will 
show.  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  come  up  and 
warn  you,  my  lady,  that  we  are  on  the  track.  A 
deal  of  game  is  being  snared  the  last  few  weeks ; 
we  have  been  on  the  track  day  and  night  as  you 
may  say,  and  from  information  I  have  received  I 
think  we  ought  to  land  the  gentleman  to-night." 

"Very  well,  Walters ;  if  you  land  him  fairly  and, 
as  you  say,  red-handed,  I  will  acknowledge  that  I 
was  wrong,  but  until  you  do  so  I  must  say  that  I 
have  every  faith  in  young  Daniels." 

"  Very  good,  Madam."  He  then  consulted  her 
on  one  or  two  other  points  connected  with  the 
shootings,  and  disappeared  when  by  a  gesture  she 
dismissed  him. 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  sat  for  some  little  time  in  the 
large  chair  by  the  fire  thinking  deeply.  "  I  cannot 
think,"  her  thoughts  ran,  "  that  I  can  be  so  deceived 
in  young  Daniels.  No,  I  won't  believe  it  until  I 


CA  UGHT  RED-HANDED.  3  I  3 

have  no  choice  but  to  do  so.  If  there  is  anything 
in  physiognomy,  that  young  man  is  as  straight  as  a 
die,  and  I  have  believed  in  physiognomy  all  my 
life.  A  man  who  can  look  you  straight  in  the  eyes 
and  answer  you  without  hesitation  or  a  stumble,  a 
man  who  walks  well  with  his  feet  to  right  and  left, 
that  man  is  seldom  dishonest.  It  is  against  nature 
even  to  suspect  him.  However,  of  course,  the 
game  has  been  taken,  and  Walters  is  perfectly  right 
to  try  to  trap  this  poacher — still,  I  cannot  think 
that  young  Daniels  is  the  man."  She  got  up  at 
last  with  an  impatient  sigh,  knowing  that  if  she  sat 
there  till  night  her  cogitations  would  not  make  the 
smallest  difference  in  the  actuality  of  the  events 
which  would  come  to  pass  during  the  next  twenty- 
four  hours.  She  went  back  to  her  occupation  of 
writing  important  letters  and  the  incident  passed 
almost  out  of  her  mind. 

She  and  Margot  had  lunch  together  and  the 
little  heir  was  brought  down  by  his  nurse  for  half 
an  hour  while  they  had  their  coffee,  then  she  and 
Margot  went  out  together  in  the  open  carriage. 
They  had  rather  a  long  drive  that  day,  for  their 
errand  was  to  go  to  see  a  lady  recovering  from  a 
somewhat  severe  illness,  a  lady  who  had  always 
been  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's,  and  who  was 
as  near  to  an  intimate  as  she  possessed  in  the 
world.  "Nobody  would  believe  that  we  were 
almost  upon  Christmas,"  she  said,  as  they  drove 
back  through  the  fast  darkening  country  lanes. 

"  No,  it  is  quite  mild,"  said  Margot  "  Did  you 
notice  those  curious  red  things — half  flowers,  half 
o  27 


314  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

berries — that  Lady  Constance  had  on  her  table  ? 
I  never  saw  anything  so  curious  in  my  life.  And 
how  they  lighted  up  that  part  of  the  room  ?" 

"  I  did  notice  them.  I  meant  to  ask  her  where 
they  had  come  from,  and  then  something  she  said 
put  it  out  of  my  mind.  By  the  bye,  how  dreadful 
Miss  Drummond  looked.  What  was  it  ?" 

"  I  think  it  was  her  hat,"  said  Margot 

"  But  what  was  her  hat  ?" 

"Ah,  that  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  It  was 
very  queer,  and  she  did  look  so  satisfied  with  it " 

"  Stop !"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  imperatively  to 
the  coachman  at  that  moment.  They  were  still  a 
good  nine  miles  from  home,  and,  as  the  carriage 
drew  up  with  a  jerk,  a  tall  figure  stopped,  turned 
and  came  back  to  the  door  on  Mrs.  Bladensbrook's 
side.  "  Is  that  you,  Daniels  ?"  she  asked,  sharply. 

"  Yes,  my  lady." 

"Oh,  where  are  you  going?" 

"  I  am  going  into  Eccrington,  my  lady." 

"  Shall  you  be  long  before  you  return  ?" 

"  Well,  my  lady,  I  was  not  coming  back  very 
early,"  the  young  man  replied.  "  The  fact  is,  I  am 
going  to  see  some  cousins,  and  they  have  got  a 
bit  of  a  merry-making  on.  I  don't  intend  to  be 
back  much  before  midnight.  Is  there  anything  I 
can  do  for  you,  my  lady  ?" 

"  No,  thank  you — no,  it  doesn't  matter.  I  wanted 
to  know  where  you  were  going,  that  was  all. 
Good-night." 

"  Good-night,  my  lady."  He  stood  and  looked 
after  the  carriage  with  its  champing  horses  and 


CAUGHT  RED-HANDED.  315 

flashing  lights.  "  Now,  I  wonder  what  made  her 
ask  me  that  ?"  he  said  to  himself.  "  Why  should 
she  want  to  know  where  I  was  going  and  how  long 
I  was  going  to  stop  ?" 

At  that  very  moment  Margot  was  asking  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  the  same  question.  "  Why  did  you 
want  to  know  where  young  Daniels  was  going  ?" 
she  enquired. 

"  I  had  a  reason,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  who 
seldom  made  explanations  needlessly. 

They  were  some  time  before  they  reached  home, 
which  they  did  in  time  to  dress  for  dinner.  They 
were  quite  alone  that  evening,  but  they  were  not 
dull ;  they  were  never  dull  together,  for  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  was  at  all  times  a  most  entertaining 
companion.  When  the  clock  struck  ten,  however, 
and  Matthew  appeared  bringing  in  a  small  table  with 
a  silver  tray  and  a  liqueur-stand,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook 
looked  up  with  a  start.  "  How  the  evening  has 
slipped  away  I"  she  said.  "  I  feel  as  if  it  was  not 
half  an  hour  since  dinner.  Matthew,  what  is  that  ?" 

"  I  will  see,  M'm,"  said  Matthew. 

It  was  somebody  at  the  principal  entrance-door, 
somebody  who  knocked  imperatively.  In  a  few 
minutes  Matthew  came  back  again,  showing  in  the 
Rector.  "  My  dear  Rector,  is  anything  the  matter  ?" 
said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  as  soon  as  she  had  glanced 
at  his  face. 

"  Something  very  dreadful  has  happened,"  he  said. 
"  I  really  hardly  know  how  to  tell  you  the  news. 
There  has  been  a  poaching  affray  in  the  woods  just 
back  of  the  house  and  a  man  has  been  shot,  Mrs. 


316  A  MAGNIFICENT  YOUNG  MAN. 

Bladensbrook.  It  is  a  mile  to  the  village,  and  he 
is  a  dying  man.  I  have  told  them  to  bring  him  in 
here — I  felt  that  you  would  not  mind.  All  the 
village  people  are  in  bed  long  ago.  I  hope  you 
don't  mind." 

"  My  dear  Rector,  of  course  not.  But  who  has 
been  shot  ?  Not  one  of  my  men,  I  hope." 

"  I  don't  know.  He  didn't  give  his  name,  but  he 
is  dying,  and  he  has  asked  to  see  a  magistrate.  He 
has  something  of  importance  to  tell  him." 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

MY  SON   HAS   MORE   THAN   SATISFIED   ME! 

IN  a  moment  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  had  rung  the 
bell  for  Matthews,  by  whom  she  sent  instructions 
to  the  housekeeper  to  make  ready  a  room  imme- 
diately in  which  the  dying  man  could  be  received. 
In  answer  to  this  message  the  housekeeper  herself 
came  hurriedly  to  her  mistress.  "  Don't  you 
think,  Ma'am,  that  the  little  blue  room  would  do 
quite  well?  It  is  conveniently  near  the  stairs 
leading  to  our  passage,  and  can  be  ready  in  ten 
minutes." 

"  I  do,  certainly,  Mrs.  Moore.  Have  a  fire  lighted 
and  do  everything  that  is  necessary.  Although 
the  man  has  been  taken  red-handed  snaring  our 
game,  Mr.  Morris,  he  is  dying,  and  of  course  death 
wipes  out  all  scores.  Let  him  have  every  atten- 


MY  SON  HAS  MORE    THAN  SATISFIED  ME!     317 

tion  that  is  necessary.  I  suppose,"  turning  to  the 
Rector,  "  that  you  have  sent  for  the  doctor  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  the  doctor  is  with 
him  now.  It  will  be  a  question  of  a  very  few 
hours.  One  of  the  under-keepers  has  gone  for  the 
nearest  magistrate — that,  by  the  bye,  is  Mr.  Bui- 
more." 

"  Oh,  yes.  Well,  I  hope  he  will  come  in  time. 
Of  course,  you  will  not  expect  me  to  see  him  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  think  so ;  I  don't  think  it  is  at  all 
necessary.  Mrs.  Moore  and  I  and  the  doctor  can 
do  everything  that  is  needful." 

"  Then  Margot  and  I  will  sit  here  until  we  know 
that  the  man  is  safely  in  bed.  You  might  let  us 
have  the  news.  You  will  stay  here  to-night,  I 
suppose  ?" 

"  I  will  not  leave  him,"  said  the  Rector ;  "  the 
whole  thing  is  very  dreadful — to  be  taken  red- 
handed  like  this,  the  work  of  weeks,  and  after  try- 
ing very  hard  to  compromise  another  man,  an 
innocent  man.  I  could  not  leave  such  a  case  at  all." 

"  Then  you  will  consider  this  your  house,  my 
dear  Rector.  Anything  that  you  order,  Mrs.  Moore 
and  Matthew  will  supply  you  with.  Matthew,  you 
will  remain  within  call  of  the  Rector  to-night." 

"  Oh,  yes,  M'm,  yes.  I  shall  not  dream  of  going 
to  bed." 

The  Rector  then  went  out  of  the  room  and  passed 
out  to  the  great  entrance  steps  to  listen  whether 
the  men  were  approaching  with  their  burden.  They 
came  presently,  carrying  the  wounded  man  upon  a 
hurdle,  upon  which  a  few  coats  and  rugs  had  been 
27* 


318  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

hurriedly  thrown.  There  was  no  question  of  being 
able  to  carry  their  burden  straight  up-stairs,  and 
they  took  him  up  the  great  staircase  and  along  the 
wide  corridor  until  they  came  to  the  door  which 
led  into  the  bachelor  quarters  of  the  house.  There 
they  laid  the  hurdle  down  upon  the  floor  and,  lift- 
ing him  as  gently  as  they  could,  carried  him  by 
hand  into  the  room  which  had  been  prepared  for 
him.  Matthew  came  down  presently  to  tell  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  that  the  move  had  been  safely  accom- 
plished. "  He  is  very  ill,  M'm  ;  a  wretched-looking 
creature,  quite  a  stranger.  Nobody  seems  to  know 
anything  about  him.  He  says  he  has  been  living 
in  the  woods  and  feeding  himself  on  what  he  could 
get,  and  by  his  looks  he  is  a  regular  gaol-bird." 

Well,  it  is  no  use  spinning  out  this  part  of  the 
story.  During  the  solemn  watches  of  that  night 
the  spirit  of  the  wounded  stranger  fled,  and  all 
that  was  left  of  him  lay  clothed  in  the  majesty  of 
death  under  the  roof  of  the  woman  he  had  robbed. 
Somehow,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  never  dreamed  of 
going  to  sleep,  or  of  going  to  bed,  even.  She  sat 
up  in  the  little  drawing-room  thinking  deeply. 
Twice  she  urged  Margot  to  go  to  bed,  but  Mar- 
got  said  that  if  she  did  she  could  not  sleep,  and 
so  the  two  women  kept  their  vigil  together.  It 
was  almost  morning  when  the  Rector  came  back 
and  told  them  that  all  was  over. 

"  It  is  the  most  extraordinary  story,"  he  said, 
"  that  he  has  told  the  magistrate  that  I  have  ever 
heard.  His  has  been  a  singular  life ;  he  was  not  a 
common  man,  but  fairly  educated  and  quite  of  the 


MY  SON  HAS  MORE  THAN  SATISFIED  ME!     319 

middle  class.  He  has  left  not  only  a  confession  of 
having  for  weeks  past  snared  your  game,  but  also 
of  his  having  tried  to  cast  the  blame  upon  another, 
a  young  man  who  offended  him  some  little  time 
ago  by  refusing  to  become  in  any  sense  his  friend." 

"  That  was  young  Daniels,  of  course,"  said  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook.  "  Ah,  well,  Margot  and  I  met  him 
to-night,  nine  miles  away,  footing  it  steadily  in  the 
direction  of  Eccrington.  I  stopped  the  carriage 
and  asked  him  where  he  was  going,  and  he  said  to 
some  cousins  who  were  merry-making,  and  that  he 
would  not  be  back  until  midnight,  so  that  I  knew 
that  he  meant  to  have  no  hand  in  this  night's 
work,  although  Walters  was  convinced  that  Daniels 
was  the  poacher  after  whom  he  was  so  keenly 
searching.  I  never  believed  that  he  would  take 
a  feather  from  me." 

"  Well,  his  innocence  is  established  now.  But 
that  is  not  the  only  confession  that  this  wretched 
fellow  had  to  make.  It  seems  that  last  year  he 
deliberately  put  the  blame  of  a  theft  on  to  a  man 
who  was  absolutely  innocent.  This  man,  whom 
he  described  to  me  as  a  howling  swell,  was  stay- 
ing in  an  hotel  in  a  manufacturing  town — Oh,  I 
forget  the  name — and  he  seems  to  have  snubbed 
his  advances,  and  to  have  told  him  flatly  that  he 
would  not  associate  with  him  in  any  way.  It 
seems  that  he  deliberately  stole  some  jewels  from 
a  gentleman  staying  in  the  hotel  and  introduced 
them  into  this  man's  portmanteau.  He  was  ar- 
rested  but,  Mrs.  Bladensbrook,  you  seem  very 

much  interested !" 


320  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG  MAN. 

"  It  is  an  interesting  story,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens- 
brook,  breathlessly.  "  Go  on  !" 

"  Well,  this  man  was  arrested,  as  it  were  taken 
red-handed,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  hard  labour 
for  eighteen  months.  He  has  been  serving  that 
sentence  ever  since." 

"  And  his  name  ?"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 

"  His  name !"  breathed  Margot,  scarcely  above  a 
whisper. 

"  I  don't  think  anybody  you  know,"  said  the 
Rector.  "  The  name  he  gave  in  the  deposition  is 
a  very  common  one — it  is  William  Smith." 

For  the  third  time  in  her  life  Margot  quietly 
fainted  away.  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  took  no  more 
notice  of  the  girl  than  if  she  had  sighed  in  her 
sleep.  "  What  will  be  done  with  that  deposition  ?" 
she  asked. 

"That,  of  course,  will  be  sent  to  the  proper 
authorities ;  the  Home  Secretary  will  be  communi- 
cated with,  and  the  unfortunate  William  Smith  will 
have  a  free  pardon." 

"  You  are  sure  of  that  ?" 

"  Oh,  certain." 

Mrs.  Bladensbrook  gave  a  deep  sigh  of  relief. 
"  I  am  very  glad  that  this  wretch  had  the  grace  to 
make  a  clean  breast  of  it  before  he  was  taken. 
Think  what  that  poor  thing  has  suffered,  knowing 
his  own  innocence ;  think  what  his  mother  must 
have  borne !" 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  Rector,  "  we  must  leave 
all  that.  After  all,  his  people  can  only  be  thank- 
ful that  reparation  has  been  done,  although  it  is 


MY  SON  HAS  MORE  THAN  SATISFIED  ME!     32 1 

late  in  the  day;  but,"  turning  his  head  suddenly 
and  seeing  Margot's  senseless  condition,  "  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook,  your  daughter-in-law !" 

"  Oh,  dear,  dear  !  Poor  child  !  This  has  been 
too  much  for  her.  Where  is  Matthew  ?  Matthew, 
get  a  little  brandy ;  Mrs.  Godfrey  has  fainted." 


A  few  days  later  Mrs.  Bladensbrook  and  Margot 
were  comfortably  ensconced  in  a  well-known  Lon- 
don hotel.  To  say  that  they  were  anxious  is  to 
express  nothing  of  the  tumult  of  feelings,  hope, 
fear,  doubt,  expectation,  delirious  joy,  anxiety,  all 
combined,  which  filled  their  hearts,  for  they  were 
expecting  Godfrey !  Every  moment  that  passed 
brought  him  nearer,  every  tick  of  the  little  clock 
upon  the  mantel-shelf  brought  the  period  of  sep- 
aration'nearer  to  its  close.  At  last,  Margot,  who 
was  standing  by  the  window,  turned  round  in  her 
excitement.  "  Mother,"  she  said,  "  I  cannot  wait 
here  any  longer.  I  believe  he  is  just  coming.  I 
would  rather  leave  you  to  see  him  first.  After 
all,  he  did  write  to  me  twice.  It  is  your  due  that 
you  should  see  him  first."  ' 

"  Oh,  my  dear,"  said  the  mother. 

"Yes,  I  wish  it  so.  He  would  rather  explain 
to  you  than  to  me.  He  made  his  last  appoint- 
ment with  you.  I  will  come  when  you  send  for 
me." 

She  whisked  out  of  the  room  and  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook went  impatiently  to  the  window,  where 
she  stood  tapping  her  fingers  restlessly  upon  the 


322  A   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

pane  and  looking  up  and  down  the  street  as  if 
by  oft  looking  she  could  bring  her  son  more 
quickly.  And  at  last  he  came — a  Godfrey  that 
she  scarcely  knew,  a  Godfrey  with  his  hair  still 
painfully  short,  but  a  well-dressed,  well-groomed, 
well-turned-out  Godfrey  of  whom  no  mother  could 
be  ashamed. 

"  My  boy !"  she  cried,  and  the  next  moment  she 
was  in  his  arms. 

She  was  not  a  demonstrative  and  foolish  mother, 
her  raptures  did  not  last  long  ere  she  held  him 
at  arm's  length  and  asked  him  a  question.  "  Now 
tell  me,  why  did  you  deny  us  when  we  came  to 
see  you  ?" 

"  Why  ?"  he  said,  very  tenderly,  "  because,  when 
that  awful  suspicion  came  upon  me,  that  suspicion, 
Mother,  under  which  I  should  have  believed  any 
other  man  in  the  world  to  be  guilty,  that  suspi- 
cion from  which  I  could  never  hope  that  my  bare 
word  or  even  my  position  would  save  me,  I  felt 
that  it  was  only  due  to  myself  and  to  you — to 
my  race — to  my  regiment,  to  let  things  pass  as 
they  would  without  explanation.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  an  explanation  would  only  serve  to  tar- 
nish the  name  of  Bladensbrook.  After  all,  there 
is  no  record  of  a  Bladensbrook  having  suffered 
imprisonment  for  the  low  crime  of  theft ;  there  is 
no  record  concerning  any  person  but  William 
Smith, — that  could  hurt  nobody.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  I  was  in  for  a  bad  piece  of  luck,  and  that, 
try  as  I  would,  I  could  only  get  through  it  by 
endurance,  so  when  you  came — you  and  Margot 


My  SON  HAS  MORE  THAN  SATISFIED  ME  I    323 

— so  unexpectedly  to  see  me,  I  had  not  a  moment 
to  think  in,  not  a  moment  for  preparation.  I 
didn't  know  what  to  do,  and  then  it  came  to  me 
that  you  would  understand  that  if  I  denied  you,  I 
should  not  do  so  without  a  reason." 

"I  did  understand  you,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook. 
"I  told  Margot  that  I  was  satisfied  you  had  a 
reason,  and  a  good  reason." 

"  And  Margot,  where  is  she  ?  Mother,  you  don't 
know  everything." 

"  My  dear  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Bladensbrook, "  I  told 
Woods  to  say  nothing  to  you.  I  have  known 
everything  fora  long  time.  It  is  you,  dear,  who 
are  in  the  dark ;  it  is  you  who  don't  know  every- 
thing yet." 

"  And  Margot  ?" 

"  Margot  knows  all  that  has  happened — every- 
thing that  has  happened,"  said  his  mother, "  every- 
thing. She  was  here  in  this  room  five  minutes 
ago ;  she  was  so  nervous,  and  she  fancied  I  ought 
to  see  you  first,  but  she  is  waiting  to  be  sent 
for." 

"  Margot  is  in  this  house?" 

"  Yes.  I  will  send  for  her  now."  She  went 
across  the  room  to  ring  the  bell,  perhaps  for  the 
first  time  that  she  had  ever  done  such  a  service 
for  her  son.  "  Go  and  ask  Mrs.  Godfrey  Bladens- 
brook to  come  here,"  she  said  to  the  man  who 
answered  the  summons. 

"It  sounds  so  strange  to  hear  Margot  called 
Mrs.  Godfrey  Bladensbrook !"  said  he,  taking  hold 
of  his  mother's  hand  and  smiling  down  upon  her. 


324  ^   MAGNIFICENT   YOUNG   MAN. 

"  Margot  is  quite  used  to  it,"  said  Mrs.  Bladens. 
brook  the  elder.  "  Ah,  here  she  is  !  Margot — he 
is  come." 

"  Godfrey !"  cried  Margot.  And  that  was  all. 
There  were  no  explanations  ;  she  asked  none,  he 
gave  none ;  his  arms  were  about  her,  hers  about 
him.  "  Godfrey !"  was  all  that  she  could  find  to 
say.  But  by  and  by,  when  the  two  had  calmed 
down,  a  recollection  came  back  to  Margot  of  some- 
thing that  she  had  to  tell  Godfrey.  "  Dear  God- 
frey," she  said,  looking  up  at  him  and  holding  his 
great  hand  closely  between  her  two  little  snow- 
flakes,  "  we  have  so  much  to  tell  you,  your  mother 
and  I,  we  don't  know  where  to  begin — at  least,  we 
know  where  to  begin,  but  we  shall  not  know  where 
to  go  on  after  that.  You  haven't  told  him  yet, 
Mother?" 

"  I  haven't  told  him  one  word,"  said  Mrs.  Bla- 
densbrook,  smiling. 

"  Told  me  about  what  ?  asked  Godfrey. 

"Ah,  we  have  a  little  surprise  for  you — your 
mother  and  I.  We  have  something  to  show  you." 
Then  she  too  jumped  up  and  flitted  across  the 
room  to  ring  the  bell.  "  You  must  sit  still,  God- 
frey ;  don't  listen  to  what  I  am  going  to  say."  She 
went  to  the  door  and  whispered  something  to  the 
waiter,  who  promptly  disappeared.  "Sit  quite 
still,  Godfrey;  look  at  the  fire — don't  turn  your 
head — don't  try  to  listen." 

"  I  won't,"  said  Godfrey. 

And  then  there  was  a  silence. 

"  Now  you  may  look  round,"  said  Margot. 


MY  SON  HAS  MORE  THAN  SA  TI SPIED  ME  /    $2$ 

And  when  Godfrey  looked  round  he  saw  his  wife, 
with  a  beautiful  blooming  babe  in  her  arms,  smiling 
at  him  over  a  little  golden  downy  head,  with  a  new 
light  in  her  eyes  which  he  had  never  seen  there 
before. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Two  months  later,  the  squire,  with  his  wife  and 
son,  accompanied  by  her  who  had  for  so  many 
years  been  queen  regent  of  Bladensbrook,  returned 
home.  Nobody  liked  to  ask  him  where  he  had 
been,  and  Godfrey  volunteered  no  information ;  but 
at  last  one  venturesome  lady  put  a  question  to  Mrs. 
Bladensbrook  the  elder.  Her  answer  was  charac~ 
teristic  and  at  the  same  time  politely  crushing. 
"  My  son,"  she  said, "  has  been  in  very  strange 
places.  A  most  curious  accident  befell  him  which 
prevented  him  from  communicating  with  us  for 
some  little  time." 

"  Is  he  going  to  stay  at  home  now  ?"  asked  the 
questioning  lady. 

"  Oh,  yes.  He  will  not  go  away  again.  There 
will  be  no  need.  What  ?  Did  I  mind  Godfrey's 
being  away  so  long  ?  Well,  neither  his  wife  nor  I 
liked  it ;  but  he  thought  it  necessary,  and  she  and 
I  had  no  choice  but  to  acquiesce  in  his  absence. 
As  for  his  motives,  well,  it  isn't  for  me  to  talk 
about  them,  but  I  may  tell  you  that  my  son  has 
always  more  than  satisfied  me !" 

THE   END. 


By  MRS.  ALEXANDER. 

THE   COST  OF   HER   PRIDE. 

i2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

BARBARA. 

i2mo.     Paper,  50  cents ;  cloth,  $1.00. 

A  GOLDEN   AUTUMN. 

i2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

A   FIGHT  WITH   FATE. 

iamo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"The  plot  is  good,  is  skilfully  developed ;  the  dialogue  is  bright, 
the  situations,  many  of  them,  dramatic." — Boston  Advertiser. 

FOUND  WANTING. 

I2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"The  heroine  is  fascinating  and  noble,  and  all  the  characters  are 
well  drawn,  and  the  dilemma  on  which  the  plot  hinges  is  handled 
well. ' '  — Boston  Congregationalist. 

FOR   HIS  SAKE. 

i2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"In  dealing  with  domestic  complications  and  the  interaction  of 
characters  upon  each  other  she  is  very  skilful." — Charlestown  News 
and  Courier. 

THE  STEPMOTHER. 

X2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

A  clever  story  of  English  life,  dealing  with  the  incidents  which 
attend  and  follow  on  the  meeting  of  a  wealthy  man  of  artistic  temper- 
ament and  a  charming  girl. 


J.    B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY,   PHILADELPHIA 


MLLE.     FOUCHETTE 

A  Novel  of  French  Life. 

By  CHARLES  THEODORE  MURRAY. 


Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 


"  One  of  the  most  vivid  descriptions  of  reckless  student  life  in 
fiction." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

"Mr.  Murray  has  done  for  Americans  what  Du  Maurier  did  for 
Englishmen." — St.  Paul  Dispatch. 

"  Intensely  interesting  and  exciting." — Illinois  State  Register. 

"  Mr.  Murray  has  caught  very  well  the  modern  spirit  of  Paris  and 
the  eternal  spirit  of  the  Frenchman.  He  knows  thoroughly  well  the 
life  which  he  describes  so  vividly,  and  he  has  written  a  most  inter- 
esting story." — Philadelphia  Press. 

' '  Here  comes  in  the  magic — we  do  love  her.  We  love  Fouchette. 
Poor,  dear  Fouchette,  the  tiger  of  vice,  the  gentle,  loving,  purring 
cat  of  virtue,  wearing  evil  as  a  mask  to  hide  the  divine  lineaments  of 
purity  most  pure,  of  goodness  most  good.  ...  It  is  an  interesting 
and  powerful  story." — Chicago  Post. 


J.    B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY,   PHILADELPHIA 


By  JOHN  STRANGE  WINTER. 

(MRS.  ARTHUR  STANNARD.) 


The  Career  of  a  Beauty. 

The  Price  of  a  Wife. 

The  Magic  Wheel. 

lamo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 


The  Peacemakers. 

Heart  and  Sword. 

Into  an  Unknown  World. 
The  Truth-Tellers. 

A  Magnificent  Young  Man. 

Every  Inch  a  Soldier. 
Aunt  Johnnie. 

The  Other  Man's  Wife. 
Only  Human. 
A  Name  to  Conjure  With. 

i2mo.     Paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 


Mrs.  Stannard  has  poured  out  a  continuous  stream  of  vivacious, 
•wholesome  novels  of  striking  merit,  which  have  more  than  confirmed 
her  sudden  popularity,  and  have  placed  her  among  the  foremost  living 
writers  of  fiction. 

J.    B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY,    PHILADELPHIA 


nun 

A     000  035  787 


